〈China Daily, Feb 25, 2017〉An independent audit could determine auction policies and spread sales across Hong Kong, consultant says Hong Kong's new chief executive would have to overhaul the administration's policies on property to bring some semblance of balanced growth to more areas in the city, according to a top local real estate expert.

Nicholas Brooke, chairman of the Professional Property Services consultancy and a recognised authority on land administration and planning matters, says that various options should be explored for the proper implementation of land supply.

The land sales policy has been lopsided, Brooke says, citing the case of Kai Tak and Tseung Kwan O, two of the top areas where most of the property developments have been concentrated in recent years.

A former deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Town Planning Board and a former member of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, Brooke says the government should institute an independent audit of land supply to determine how to set its policies on land auction.

Denis Ma, head of research, at international property consultancy JLL, says that the new administration would have to look at the property market and its policies. He suggests that outgoing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policies have not impacted the market and property prices have continued to soar.

Last November, the government announced the imposition of a hefty 15 per cent tax on second-home buyers, and the measure has severely affected the secondary market in Hong Kong.

As for land sales, Ma says that there has not been greenfield land available and Kai Tak was the only area with open land for auction.

No wonder Kai Tak has seen a flurry of land auctions in recent years - with each auction setting record per square foot prices paid by the successful developer.The government should institute an independent audit of land supply to determine how to set its policies on land auction.Nicholas Brooke, chairman, Professional Property Services consultancy.This has been mainly because of the interest from mainland property developers who have keenly participated in the auctions and outbid Hong Kong developers in many cases.

〈Asian Post, Feb 25, 2017〉Mainland developers buy Ap Lei Chau site in sale that undermines CY's claim that stamp duty rise had deterred speculative purchasers

Two mainland developers yesterday paid HK$16.86 billion for a plot of residential land at Ap Lei Chau - a record price for the city that topped market valuations by almost 50 per cent. The transaction tops the previous record price for a government land sale set in 1997 when a Siu Sai Wan site that is now home to the Island Resort sold for HK$11.82 billion.

The 126,500 sq ft Ap Lei Chau site was sold by tender to Unicorn Bay (Hong Kong) Investments, according to the Land Department's data. The buyer is a joint venture between Logan Property Holdings of Shenzhen and Guangzhou-based KWG Property Holding.

With a total gross floor area of 762,091 sq ft, the price translates to HK$22,118 per sq ft in land cost. Flats on the site are tipped to sell for at least HK$32,000 per sq ft, a record for the district.

The record price undermines the assertion by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying that raising the stamp duty for individual second-home buyers to 15 per cent last November had "achieved its goal" in deterring speculative buyers.

First-time buyers made up 95 per cent of January's residential property sales, while home sales requiring a double, or 15 per cent, stamp duty plunged 83 per cent to 406 transactions. "These figures show the government's efforts to suppress investment demand for flats have been effective," Leung said yesterday.

Leung also dismissed the idea of putting 60 per cent of the city's population in public housing, saying the person who proposed it was confused - without naming former finance minister John Tsang Chun-wah, who floated it in his campaign for the top job.

Apart from bolstering the government's coffers, buoyant land sales encouraged apartment owners to raise their selling prices, property analysts said.

"The aggressive bidding shows developers outside Hong Kong see its property market as an attractive place to invest in, taking into account the limited new land supply and well established property transaction system," said Lau Chun-kong, head of property consultant JLL's valuation department. "The government must increase land supply if they hope to maintain a healthy and stable housing market."

〈China Daily, Feb 23, 2017〉China is seeking to maintain stability in the property market this year after the roller coaster ride of 2016, with measures to prevent surges in metropolises and the growing inventories in small cities.BEIJING - China is seeking to maintain stability in the property market this year after the roller coaster ride of 2016, with measures to prevent surges in metropolises and the growing inventories in small cities.

'Despite looming problems and uncertainties, China is capable of maintaining stable and healthy development of the property market this year,' Chen Zhenggao, minister of housing and urban-rural development, said on Thursday during a press conference.

His remarks came amid signs of retreating in the country's home sales and prices, which saw rapid increases in major cities in 2016.

Of 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, 45 saw prices for new residential housing climb month on month in January, down from 46 in December and 55 in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In Beijing, new home prices remained flat month on month, while Shanghai's prices fell 0.1 percent. Shenzhen, a southern metropolis neighboring Hong Kong, slid 0.5 percent. 'The momentum of excessive home price increases has been contained, showing the primary results of regulatory policies,' Chen said.

China's property market boomed last year fueled by progressive policy easing. Home buyers could easily secure mortgages and banks were generous in financing property developers.

Despite cooling a bit in the fourth quarter, transactions of residential real estate in China jumped 36.1 percent to 9.9 trillion yuan ($1.44 trillion) last year, with home prices also surging. Aware of the rising risks, dozens of cities have rolled out measures since October last year, ranging from purchase limits to tightened mortgage restrictions, to prevent prices from rising out of control. The central authorities have also moved to limit credit facilitating speculative buying and land zoned for residential housing.

〈China Daily, Feb 23, 2017〉Real estate experts have voiced optimism that the Hong Kong government’s plan to vastly increase land supply on all fronts to meet the city’s housing, economic and social needs will be able to cope with demand for residential units over the next five years. But there’ll be no let-up in soaring land prices as competition among developers remains stiff.

In his maiden budget address on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said 28 residential sites will go under the hammer under the 2017-18 land sale program which, together with railway property and redevelopment projects, will potentially provide a total of 31,620 private apartments.

The 28 sites will include 20 new ones, about half of which will be located in the Kai Tak new development area – the 320-hectare site of the city’s former airport in East Kowloon which has been the focus of recent fierce bidding between local and mainland developers, with record prices paid for some of the plots.

In the first quarter of the coming financial year (April to June), about 8,000 residential units are expected to come on stream.

Secretary for Development Eric Ma Siu-cheung, who has been in his new post for less than two weeks, pledged that the government will adopt a multi-pronged approach to raising residential land supply in a consistent and flexible manner that can respond to social needs.

As for public housing supply, there will be 71,800 public rental units and about 22,600 subsidized sale units available in the market from 2016 to 2021.

“We agree that the government’s plan for future residential housing supply is reasonable, and will be able to meet the market’s demand for residential properties,” said Clement Lau, chair of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The Hong Kong government Had pledged a host of measures to deal with the city’s chronic housing problem and to curb sky-high property prices since Chief Executive Leung Chunying took office in 2012.

In December last year, the price index of private domestic units tracked by the Rating and Valuation Department soared to 306.8, surpassing the peak level of 306.1 recorded in September 2015.

〈Shanghai Daily, Feb 22, 2017〉China is seeking to maintain stability in the property market this year after the roller-coaster ride of 2016, with measures to prevent surges in metropolises and the growing inventories in small cities.

“Despite looming problems and uncertainties, China is capable of maintaining stable and healthy development of the property market this year,” Chen Zhenggao, minister of housing and urban-rural development, said yesterday during a press conference.

His remarks came amid signs of retreat in the country’s home sales and prices, which saw rapid increases in major cities in 2016.

Of 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, 45 saw prices for new residential housing climb month on month in January, down from 46 in December and 55 in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In Beijing, new home prices were flat month on month, while Shanghai’s prices fell 0.1 percent. Shenzhen, neighboring Hong Kong, slid 0.5 percent.

“The momentum of excessive home price increases has been contained, showing the primary results of regulatory policies,” Chen said.

China’s property market boomed last year fueled by progressive policy easing. Home buyers could easily secure mortgages and banks were generous in financing property developers.

Despite cooling a bit in the fourth quarter, transactions of housing in China jumped 36.1 percent to 9.9 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) last year, with home prices surging. Aware of the rising risks, dozens of cities have rolled out measures since October, ranging from purchase limits to tightened mortgage curbs, to prevent prices from rising out of control. The central authorities have also moved to limit credit facilitating speculative buying and land zoned for residential housing.