Sun Hung Kai Properties offers three parcels of land to help ease Hong Kong housing crisis amid social unrest

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s biggest developer by market value, has offered some of its land bank for the construction of 2,000 homes to help ease a housing crisis in the city amid complaints from the government.

The developer has volunteered three parcels covering 400,000 square feet across the city, executive director Adam Kwok said at a media briefing on Friday. The biggest of the lots, a 300,000 sq ft parcel about 10 minutes’ walk from the Yuen Long MTR station, will be handed over for HK$1 for eight years to an NGO, Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. The non-profit organisation will develop 1,600 transitional homes for occupancy in early 2022, Kwok said. The other two parcels are in Kam Tin and Kwu Tung and both will also be leased for eight years, Kwok added, though their development plans have not been determined at this stage.

The announcement comes after Beijing’s new top envoy to Hong Kong, Luo Huining, called on the city’s government to improve the economy and people’s livelihoods. In a meeting with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Thursday, he also urged the administration to strengthen its communications regarding its handling of the city’s problems.

The government is mired in its worst political crisis, with anti-government protests about to enter their eighth month. Chinese state media have previously pointed to the city’s housing crisis as a cause behind the deep-rooted social unrest.

Some of the city’s biggest developers were lambasted during the height of anti-government protests by mainland news agencies for not doing enough to alleviate the city’s housing crisis, a long-term source of fodder for government critics. A chronic lack of supply has helped drive residential prices to record levels over the past decade, making the city the most expensive worldwide to live in.