Hong Kong government likely to meet private housing target of 19,000 units
Government leans on MTR Corp to make up shortfall, boosting the quarterly supply 13pc
The government says it stands a good chance of selling enough residential sites to meet its annual private housing target of 19,000 this year, but industry observers believe home prices will continue to rise, although more slowly.
Three government residential sites will be released from July to September, enabling the construction of 1,650 flats. That's about 46 per cent less than the 3,100 flats which could be built on land released for tender in the first quarter (April to June) of this financial year.
However, MTR Corp - in which the government is the largest shareholder - will make up the shortfall by supplying 3,430 flats from two of its major housing development tenders, in Yuen Long and Tseung Kwan O, in the next quarter.
"It does not matter whether the land is coming from the government or the MTR Corp," said Vincent Cheung Kiu-cho, national director for Greater China at property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. "It shows the government is back on track to maintain a stable land sale scheme."
Yesterday's release of the second-quarter land sale programme follows Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's pledge to "concentrate on addressing the issues of the economy and people's livelihood" after the government's electoral reform proposal was defeated in the legislature on June 18.
Thomas Lam, the head of valuation and consultancy at Knight Frank, said he expected home prices would continue to rise as it would take about two to three years for the new sites to be developed into flats.
