HK to increase residential land supply: financial chief

Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang said on Wednesday that the government will continue to increase residential land supply while adopting a public housing supply target of 280,000 units for the next ten years.

When delivering his Budget, Tsang said the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) requires substantial resources to implement the ten-year public housing construction program. It is estimated that HKHA's cash and investment balance will drop to 16 billion HK dollars (about 2.05 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of March 2020.

"I have set aside the investment returns of 45 billion HK dollars in 2015 as an injection into the Housing Reserve. Taking this injection together with the 2014 allocation and accumulated investment returns, the balance of the Housing Reserve now stands at 74 billion HK dollars," the financial chief said.

As for private housing, Tsang said, the government estimates that private housing land supply in 2015-16 has a capacity to produce over 20,000 units.

Tsang said the 2016-17 Land Sale Program comprises 29 residential sites, including 14 new sites, capable of providing about 19,000 units.

Taking into account railway property development projects, the Urban Renewal Authority's projects, and private re-development and development projects, the government estimates that the potential land supply for private housing in 2016-17 will have a capacity to produce 29,000 units, he added. Enditem