〈Asian Post, April 1, 2017〉Chief Executive-elect Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor pledged to tackle Hong Kong’s housing crisis by releasing more land supply rather than raising taxes on property transactions.

She made the commitment after the government released its latest official home price data on Friday; home price figures for last month hit a record high — showing a rising trend for the 11th consecutive month.

Lam admitted that current and previous administrations had all attempted to cool the housing market. But they all failed to reverse the upward trend because they constantly tried to suppress demand, she explained.

The incoming CE reiterated her promise in her manifesto to boost supply to provide more affordable housing for Hong Kong people.

“Increasing housing supply and developing new land are my top priority after taking office,” Lam said.

In her manifesto, Lam promised to provide affordable housing for first-time homebuyers in the “sandwich class”.

This class includes people earning too much to qualify for public housing but not enough to buy in the private sector. February’s home price index rose 1.1 percent to 312.8, from January’s 309.4, according to the release by Ratings and Valuation Department.

Meanwhile, prices rose 14.3 percent in February compared with last year, the data showed. Prices have continued to rise despite government curbs.

Last November, Hong Kong increased stamp duty on home purchases to 15 percent of transaction values across the board, exempting local residents who don’t own any property.

In a Legislative Council meeting on Friday, Director of Planning Raymond Lee Kaiwing said his department will carry out a comprehensive study on the current situation of brownfields in the New Territories. The study will help the government map all brownfield sites and compile land policies, Lee said. The study will be completed in 2018, according to Lee.

Currently, there is no official definition of a brownfield site, according to the Development Bureau. It generally refers to deserted agricultural or rural land already developed for industrial and civil use, such as recycling yards, car parks and open storage facilities.

〈China Daily, April 1, 2017〉Home prices in Hong Kong, the world's least affordable major city, rose for the 11th consecutive month to an all-time high in February, underscoring the scale of the task facing chief executive-elect Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

February's home price index, which represents home price movements in the secondary market, rose 1.1 per cent to 312.8 from January's 309.4, according to the Rating and Valuation Department. Prices rose 14.3 per cent in February from a year earlier and have risen 1.8 per cent since the beginning of this year, the data showed.

Housing affordability ranks as the most crucial issue facing Hong Kong's next leader, according to a South China Morning Post telephone survey, which interviewed 1,018 people from February 2-8.

More than 70 per cent of the respondents, or 717 people, selected housing prices as the most burning issue. That was an increase over the results of a January survey, in which 63 per cent - or 651 out of 1,024 respondents - selected the issue as the main priority.

The Post commissioned Chinese University's centre for communication and public opinion to conduct the surveys, which asked the same batch of questions.

In response to home prices hitting a new high, Lam said two administrations in the past, one under Tung Chee-hwa and the outgoing team led by Leung Chun-ying, had introduced measures to control demand, reaping some achievements but they had failed to reverse rising property prices. Lam said she would work to boost home supply, reaffirming that housing and land issues were her administration's most important policy agenda items.

In her manifesto, Lam promised to provide affordable housing for first-time homebuyers in the "sandwich class" - those earning too much to qualify for public housing but not enough to buy in the private sector. In November, Hong Kong raised the stamp duty on home purchases to 15 per cent across the board, exempting local residents who are first-time buyers.

〈Asian Post, March 31, 2017〉Developers in Hong Kong have built more micro-flats - 215 sq ft or below - in the past four years than any other sized homes, according to official figures, and the trend is likely to continue.

The number of private flats under 215 sq ft surged from 81 in 2013 to 206 last year, according to the Rating and Valuation Department - an increase of 154 per cent. No flats of that size were built in 2012.

The number of flats ranging from 215 to 429 sq ft shot up 147 per cent from 1,511 in 2012 to 3,731 last year. Medium-sized flats, 429 to 752 sq ft, increased by 59 per cent.

In contrast, there was an 18 per cent drop in apartments measuring between 735 and 1,075 sq ft, and 27 per cent fewer flats of between 1,076 and 1,721 sq ft.

Analysts say a key reason for developers downsizing is the issue of affordability amid a perennial shortage of living space and strong demand to get on the housing ladder.

"Prices have risen too much so people can only afford to buy smaller flats," expert Lawrence Poon Wing-cheung said.

Hong Kong was ranked the world's priciest home market for the seventh year in a row, according to the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey's study of 406 cities.

A 430 sq ft apartment in Kowloon that sold for HK$2.9 million in 2012, now costs HK$4.8 million, according to the Rating and Valuation Department.

Poon also pointed out that the rise in prices far outpaced the increase in wages. Official figures show the city's wage index increased by 17 per cent across industries in the past five years, compared with a 38 per cent rise in property prices. Shrinking household sizes, now averaging 2.8 people, and more single people moving out of their parents' homes were fuelling demand for tiny flats, Poon said.

〈The Standard, March 30, 2017〉According to a study by online realtor Trulia, released late last year, almost 40 percent of young Americans live with their parents or relatives. That is a historical high despite all the claims being made amid an improving job market.

In Hong Kong, that is also becoming more commonplace. I know a few thirtysomethings who joined the workforce around 2006 and 2007, and many of them are either tenants or still living with their parents.

In the past 10 years, the best time for buying property was, perhaps, in 2009. However, many among the post- 80s generation were financially insecure to take that step.

Subsequently, the financial crisis abated and growth in prices resumed and even outpaced income gains, making it even more difficult for salary earners to become home owners.

Wage levels for many white-collar jobs stagnated for nearly two decades and many more jobs were displaced by technology.

Automation and artificial intelligence have reached the stage that their deployment will be on an unprecedented scale, displacing skilled workers who were once considered irreplaceable. We should not be too obsessed with home ownership. The affluent and talented of the future will perhaps be predominantly globetrotters with lifestyles that are less dependent on a permanent place of abode.

There might be more people choosing to remain single, thus making it rational for them to live with their parents.

I do not believe prices can deviate from the reality that homes have to be affordable. The divergence between property prices and wages implies that there will be a correction eventually.

Let us not forget also that the US dollar is gaining strength and eventually assets denominated in the greenback - and by extension the Hong Kong dollar - will look like piggy banks full of cash waiting to be broken.

Having said that, I am not against anyone becoming a home owner. In fact I often advise and encourage young first-time buyers to look for options that cost no more than seven years of their household incomes.

〈The Standard, March 29, 2017〉Many Hongkongers rushed to include their names in a ballot yesterday as buyer applications opened for heavily discounted flats in Kowloon and Lantau Island.

Some 2,057 flats at three housing estates in Choi Hung and Mui Wo will be up for grabs in August under the government's latest offering of subsidised flats in the Home Ownership Scheme.


The Housing Authority received 1,800 applications as of 5pm yesterday. Most aspiring buyers are eyeing a flat in one of the 30-storey blocks in Choi Hung, located close to the heart of Kowloon district.

"It's close to the city centre and transportation is really convenient," applicant Jacky Tse said at the authority's Lok Fu customer service centre. Tse arrived early to drop off his application before heading to work.

"I haven't saved up enough for the down payment yet, but if I'm lucky enough to get chosen I think my parents will support me," the 22-year-old fresh graduate said.

The flats in Choi Hung and Mui Wo range in size from 368 sq ft to 552 sq ft, and are priced between HK$1.39 million and HK$3.85 million.

Under the scheme aiming to boost home ownership in a city whose property ranks among the world's least affordable, prices are usually set 30 per cent lower than market rates.

The latest batch on offer is expected to be more highly sought after than last year's supply, with housing prices on the rise.

Last week, a one-bedroom flat in Tsuen Wan at an upscale development was offered for a record price of HK$10 million - or HK$24,000 per sq ft - after discounts of up to 14.5 per cent.

In one week, the authority distributed 128,300 application forms, 48,600 of which were to public housing residents. Meanwhile there were 27,400 recorded visits to the centre where model flats were displayed. Lam Yuk-yin, 70, who came to submit an application for her son, said they would consider living in Mui Wo if their ballot was drawn.

"You need at least HK$6 million to buy a flat in the private sector in Hong Kong. How can young people have such money?" she asked. "At about HK$2 million, this is much more affordable." Durga Bahadur Gurung, a native of Nepal, said rental costs were becoming more expensive where he now lived in Yau Ma Tei.