Protesters in Hong Kong continue to demand for more measures to help the scorching residential property market.
Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying unveiled new policies in his latest speech aimed at increasing land supply to cool the hot property market, The Star reported.
The news came as hundreds of protesters surrounded the legislature during Leung's speech, with some demanding he resign and take stronger measures to make housing prices affordable again, according to the newspaper.
The former British colony's increasing property prices, among the world's highest, have led to the proliferation of cage homes, wire mesh hutches stacked on top of each other and cubicle apartments as the city's residents continue to be forced out of the market.
"Land shortage has seriously stifled our social and economic development and smothered many opportunities for people to start and expand their businesses," Leung said, noting that some 200,000 people were now on waiting lists for public housing. "As long as the housing shortage persists, we have no alternative but to restrict external demand and curb speculative activities."
Leung said more land would be rezoned for housing and new areas opened up for development, with 67,000 private units expected to come on to the market in the next three to four years. A target of some 100,000 subsidised public housing units would be built in the five years from 2018, in addition to the 75,000 already planned in the coming five years.
In one project 2,000 to 3,000 hectares of land will be made available for housing by reclaiming land outside Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, according to the report.
Hong Kong and Singapore, fierce rivals as financial and wealth centres in Asia, are both struggling with over-heated property markets that have driven housing prices beyond the reach of many locals.
Both cities have identical 15 percent levies to slow foreign money into property, but the curbs on residential real estate could shift demand to retail and industrial, diverting billions of dollars to those sectors, as well as to housing markets in the United States, Canada, Australia and Malaysia.
However, some analysts said Leung's latest property moves would have little immediate impact.
"I don't feel there is a big difference. Everything is the same. The direction of increasing supply too. But short term it wouldn't change the property prices," CITIC Securities analyst Adrian Ngan said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment