Victor Li’s CK Asset wants to help ease Hong Kong’s housing crisis by squeezing more flats into its projects

CK Asset Holdings, the flagship developer of tycoon Li Ka-shing, believes it can help solve the housing crisis which has pushed Hong Kong’s property prices into the record books.

The city’s second largest developer by market capitalisation says allowing it to build more apartments at its residential projects in the north of Hong Kong would help meet pent-up demand in the world’s least affordable market.

It has applied to the planning authority to increase the plot ratio by 20 per cent at four sites it intends to build on in Kwu Tung, in the northern part of the New Territories. That would enable it to raise the build 2,200 residential units instead of 1,800.

“Recently, the call for an increase in land supply (to ease the shortage of homes ) in the city has been mounting. The group believes that among the many measures under discussion, increasing the plot ratio is one of the possible ways to rapidly increase the supply of housing,” CK Asset said in a statement released on Friday.

It has become the latest industry participant to call for the relaxation of restrictions on plot ratio which, for residential properties, refers to the ratio between the gross floor area of a building and the area of the site it stands on. That, in effect, would increase the density of housing on a given plot.

“The group’s application will be in the interests of the more efficient use of land resources, accelerating the provision of more residential units to meet growing housing needs. We strive to contribute to solving the land problem in Hong Kong,” the statement said.