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Peggy Sito

Property analysts and developers do not see any disruption in Hong Kong's housing market after the government's proposed move to increase the supply of private homes to 19,000 a year.
"With this supply target, Hong Kong home prices can remain stable and any major correction is unlikely," said Thomas Lam, the head of valuation at international property consultancy Knight Frank.
The target of housing supply in the coming decade will go up from 470,000 to 480,000 under a government proposal to tackle the city's housing shortage, Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung announced yesterday.
Of the targeted supply, 200,000 will be public rental flats; 90,000 will be subsidised flats for sale, and 190,000 private units.
Lam described the target as realistic given demand for new homes in Hong Kong is about 20,000 to 22,000 units a year.
"The targeted supply will be well absorbed by the market," he said.
Property agent Midland Realty says 16,013 new flats have been sold this year as of December 12, and predicts the transaction volume of new homes to reach 18,000 next year.
While supply has not been a major factor for home prices, Lam of Knight Frank said mortgage rates had been, but only when changes went beyond 3 percentage points.
Anthony Chu, a general manager at Far East Consortium property developers, said he welcomed the government's plan to provide sufficient supply to maintain market stability. He added that the government would be able to find enough land for the new supply.
The higher supply target was announced a day after the MTR Corporation said it planned to apply to increase the total number of flats at Lohas Park, Tseung Kwan O, by 18 per cent in a bid to ease the housing shortage.
The city's rail operator has submitted a proposal to the Town Planning Board to add 4,000 apartments, to increase the number to 25,500 at the Lohas Park development.
The extra flats are expected to be completed between 2020 and 2022, once the latest master layout plan gets the go-ahead from the board, the MTR Corp said.
Land sold since the beginning of this financial year in April could accommodate 16,800 flats, or 90 per cent of the annual target for private housing.
 


	100,000 households in poor accommodation, government study finds
Over 100,000 Hong Kong households are living in substandard accommodation, according to the latest official figures revealed in a government report which grass-roots groups criticised for failing to address the needs of residents in subdivided flats.
The Long Term Housing Strategy report estimated that the city had 105,600 households living in inadequate conditions - defined as those living in subdivided units in a poor state, temporary structures and non-residential buildings and those sharing a flat with other households. No figure on the total population concerned was given.
Out of the overall figure of 105,600, some 75,600 households were found to be in substandard subdivided flats in a survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department between June and November. The total number of households in subdivided units was put at 86,400, with the report noting that not all such homes were substandard and not all residents were inadequately housed. But the figure jumped from 66,900 last year, when the department conducted this survey for the first time after a previous study was called into question.
The government's long-term housing strategy reiterated the target to boost public rental housing supply but stopped short of introducing any immediate measures to help relocate these inadequately housed tenants.
"There were suggestions that the government should introduce measures such as tenancy control, rent subsidy, regulating or even eradicating subdivided units through legislation, to provide some quick fixes for those in need, particularly those who were inadequately housed. However, such measures do not increase housing supply, which is at the root of our problems," housing minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said.
"There are tens of thousands of these households. Even if it were possible to eradicate all subdivided flats, where are these people going to live?"
Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan said he was disappointed at the government's refusal to introduce rent controls to help those paying high rent while waiting for public rental housing. "The government should at least ban [landlords] from subdividing the flats into areas that are considered too small to live," he said.
The Society for Community Organisation also said the report had neglected those living in subdivided flats and warned many public rental housing applicants had been waiting more than three years.
Fanny W. Y. Fung and Phila Siu


New Hong Kong housing target won't hit home prices, say analysts

Of the targeted supply, 200,000 will be public rental flats. Photo: Nora Tam

Of the targeted supply, 200,000 will be public rental flats. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong’s supply target for new homes raised to 480,000 over next decade

The government has announced that the city's housing supply target will increase to 480,000. Photo: Bloomberg

The government has announced that the city's housing supply target will increase to 480,000. Photo: AFP 

News

Hong Kong

Increase in supply sufficient to maintain market stability, say developers


Property analysts and developers do not see any disruption in Hong Kong's housing market after the government's proposed move to increase the supply of private homes to 19,000 a year.
