New | No room at the inn? Housing target may be a pipedream for Hong Kong as more land sites face potential judicial review

The Hong Kong government may have difficulty meeting its long-term housing target as a growing number of residential sites up for public tender face potential judicial reviews that could stall land sales.

In its latest announcement of land sales scheduled for the three months to December, three of the four sites are subject to potential judicial review.

All three are in Tai Po and would have the capacity to provide 2,500 flats, or 88 per cent of the 2,825 flats that could be built on the released land for the October to December period. Aside from government land sales, the MTR Corp and Urban Renewal Authority will also release land sufficient to build 1,985 flats in the same period.

"That the government is still proceeding with the land sale plan indicates it has little choice while it is struggling to meet its annual housing target," said Victor Lai Kin-fai, the chief executive of Centaline Professionals.

Enough land supply to build 19,000 flats per year is part of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's blueprint for future development.

Faced with mounting opposition from affected local communities and environmental groups, Lai expects it to be increasingly difficult for the government to identify residential land.