Hong Kong: Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying pledged more measures to tackle record home prices, after a surge this year made accommodation unaffordable for many people in the city.
The number of applicants on the city’s public housing waiting list is approaching 200,000, Leung said. About 65,000 private residential units are expected to be available in the next three to four years.
Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive place to buy a home after prices advanced more than 90 per cent since early 2009 on a lack of new supply, an influx of buyers from China and record low mortgage rates.
“Tackling the housing problem is a top priority,” Leung told lawmakers. “Property prices and rentals have continued to rise by such an extent that they are now beyond people’s affordability.”
The Hang Seng Property Index, which tracks nine developers, has gained 28 per cent this year, more than the 16 per cent advance in the benchmark.
Initial measures announced last month by Leung to cool the property market, including making more land available and restricting some sales to local residents, have failed to stop an up-tick in prices. The city’s de-facto central bank also limited the maximum term on new mortgages to 30 years in September.
Developers in Hong Kong are this month preparing to sell more than 3,300 units, the most homes in six years, according to realtor Midland Holdings Ltd.
Hong Kong’s currency is pegged to the dollar, forcing it to track record low interest rates in the US, even as nations including Singapore signal that they will act to prevent asset bubbles.
Some residents in the city pay daily rates for a bed space that resembles a cage, while others live in apartments that are divided into smaller units for rent.
