The Government announced today (September 30) the quarterly land sale programme for the third quarter of 2015-16, i.e. October to December 2015.
"The private housing land supply in the third quarter of 2015-16, which comes from government land sale, a railway property development project and projects of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), is estimated to have a capacity to produce about 4,840 flats in total," the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, said.
In the third quarter of 2015-16, the Government will sell by tender four residential sites, which have a total capacity to produce about 2,850 flats. Among the four residential sites, three are located in Tai Po and one is in Tuen Mun.
The MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) plans to tender Package 9 of LOHAS Park in the same quarter, with an estimated capacity to provide about 1,700 flats.
The URA will also invite tenders for two projects on Hai Tan Street, Sham Shui Po, and Kowloon City Road/Sheung Heung Road, Ma Tau Kok. The two projects have a capacity to provide about 285 flats in total.
Mr Chan reviewed the private housing land supply situation in the first three quarters of 2015-16. In the first and second quarters, the Government put up for sale five and four residential sites respectively, which together could provide about 5,760 flats. During the same period, there were three other sources of private housing land supply:
(a) The MTRCL successfully tendered Package 7 of LOHAS Park in June 2015, and the tender of Package 8 of LOHAS Park closed today. The West Rail property development project at Yuen Long Station was successfully tendered in August 2015. These three projects could provide about 4,560 flats;
(b) The URA awarded the tenders for joint venture development of the Pak Tai Street/San Shan Road project in Ma Tau Kok and the Sai Wan Ho Street project in Shau Kei Wan in July and September 2015 respectively, with an estimated capacity to provide about 280 flats in total; and
(c) As of August 2015, private development or redevelopment projects could provide a total of about 1,260 flats.
Combining all the above, it is estimated that private housing land supply in the first half of 2015-16 had a total capacity of producing about 11,860 flats. Together with the estimated flat production capacity of about 4,840 flats of the government sale sites, the MTRCL project and the URA projects in the third quarter mentioned above, the private housing land supply in the first three quarters of 2015-16 is estimated to have a total capacity to provide around 16,700 flats, which is about 88 per cent of the 2015-16 private housing land supply target of 19,000 flats.
"Apart from government land sale, the Government has been increasing the supply of commercial floor space through multiple channels. As mentioned in the 2015-16 Budget speech, the Government will relocate some government offices away from core business districts to other areas. This will not only release valuable sites for commercial use, but also generate more economic activities and employment opportunities. In this respect, the government office space in Trade and Industry Department Tower in Mong Kok will be released for commercial use after the departments therein have been relocated to the Kai Tak Development Area within this year. The Government Property Agency plans to invite tenders before the end of 2015 for the government property at the Tower, providing about 26,400 square metres of commercial gross floor area, in order to help meet the market's keen demand for commercial floor space," Mr Chan said.
As in the last quarter, subject to market conditions as well as the progress of rezoning and other work, the Government may put up additional residential, commercial or business sites for sale within the third quarter of 2015-16.
"The Government will closely monitor the market situation and spare no efforts to identify additional suitable sites for development. The objective is to provide a steady, sustained land supply to the market to cater for the community's demand for private housing, commercial and business sites," Mr Chan said.
The list of the sites to be tendered in October to December 2015 is attached. The Lands Department will separately announce the detailed land sale arrangements before individual sites are tendered.
Ends/Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:58
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