To address the need for accommodation, the Policy Address upheld the principle of assisting grassroots families in moving into public housing and middle-income families in buying their own homes. Our policy is to assist grassroots families in moving into public housing in order to satisfy their basic need for accommodation. On top of public rental housing, we will provide subsidised home ownership flats so as to build a progressive housing ladder and assist the public to choose accommodation according to what they can afford and their personal circumstances. Also, with the shortage of private housing supply, we will give priority to the home ownership needs of Hong Kong residents.
As recently announced in the 2013-14 Land Sale Programme, we plan to put up 46 private residential sites for sale. As for the number of flats to be provided, 12 of these sites can each provide more than 500 flats, 17 sites can each provide 100 to 500 flats, and the remaining 17 sites can each provide less than 100 flats. This shows that the Government is providing different types of residential housing with different levels of affordability.
The number of small and medium-sized private residential flats completed accounts for about 80 to 90 per cent of the total number of flats completed over a long period of time. However, in 2009 this number dropped to 66%. From 2008 to 2009, the percentage of newly completed private residential flats with saleable area less than 70 square metres relative to the total number of flats completed decreased. And the decrease in the supply of flats with area less than 40 square metres was rather obvious.
Therefore in 2010 the Government introduced a fine-tuned measure of land supply by specifying in the land sale conditions the minimum number of flats to be constructed and their size restrictions, also known as “sites with flat size restrictions”, in order to increase the supply of small and medium-sized flats in the market. In 2011-12, the Government introduced another measure requiring developers to provide a minimum number of flats on some residential sites, known as “sites with flat number restrictions”. At the same time, a number of West Rail property development projects also included the flat size restrictions. Therefore, we can estimate the supply of small and medium-sized flats in the market will increase in the next few years. It demonstrates that the purpose of the Government’s efforts to increase the supply of small and medium-sized flats is to assist people in buying their own homes.
After specifying the restriction on flat size and/or number in the land sale conditions, among the total 7,900 flats that can be provided in residential sites sold in 2011/12, 6,600 flats (or 77 per cent) have restrictions on flat size or number of flats. For the year 2012-13 (as at early February 2013), the estimated number of flats estimated to be provided by the residential sites sold and the number of flats among those with restriction on flat size and/or number, are 5,100 flats and 4,600 flats (or 89 per cent) respectively.
At present, over half of households in Hong Kong have bought their own flats. Besides addressing the need for small and medium-sized flats, the Government has to address the need for replacing them with larger flats, especially for families with new members or grown up children. If they can afford it, it is natural for them to demand better living space and quality of life and. opt for larger flats. Therefore, it is the obligation of the Government to provide a certain number of sites to build relatively larger private flats.
When the Government is searching for sites or considering rezoning sites, it will go through careful and thorough consideration according to established procedures, which I have already mentioned in “My Blog” earlier. In general, in the course of land-use planning, if the sites are located in areas with low-rise or low-density residential developments, the Government will allocate these sites for low- or middle-density private residential development in order to preserve the characteristics of the localities and fit in with the surrounding environment and transportation needs.
Regarding the two sites in Kai Tak for the pilot scheme “Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People”, we will introduce flat number restrictions when they are tendered later this month. Nowadays, different types of residential housing are suffering from the shortage of supply. The Government will keep monitoring the market closely, and if necessary, we will introduce the conditions of “Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People” on other appropriate sites in order to give priority to meeting the home ownership needs of Hong Kong residents.
10 March, 2013
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