February 25, 2022
Hong Kong – The Hong Kong government expects more than 2,000 residential units to be supplied in the property market in the first quarter (April through June) of the 2022-23 financial year, as the administration is determined to maintain a steady land supply pipeline while bracing for economic headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The administration will put up for sale two residential land plots that will produce 270 residential units. Together with the projects of the MTR Corp and Urban Renewal Authority as well as private developer redevelopment projects, an expected 2,070 residential apartments will be built in the quarter.
“Short-term economic volatility is not our prime concern in deciding the pace of the land sales program. If we do not maintain a steady pipeline of land supply, the social and economic cost to Hong Kong will not be small,” Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun said at the Thursday news conference. “We will adopt a multi-pronged approach to enhance land supply.”
Together with railway property development, private development and redevelopment projects as well as the URA’s projects, about 18,000 units will be built in the coming financial year
The government expects that 13 residential sites under the 2022-23 Land Sale Program will produce 8,250 units. Together with railway property development, private development and redevelopment projects as well as the URA’s projects, about 18,000 units will be built in the coming financial year.
“Even if the 2022-2023 Budget mentioned a total of 13 residential sites to be launched, we believe that they will not be fully tendered out to the market, and therefore it will be difficult to meet the 8,000-unit supply target,” said Hannah Jeong, head of Valuation & Advisory Services at Colliers Hong Kong. “Moreover, developers are cautious on the upcoming supply in the next two to three years, which may delay their first-hand launches, so we expect the supply shortage to continue.”
According to government data, completion of private residential units is expected to average over 19,000 units annually from 2022 to 2027, representing an increase of about 14 percent over the annual average of the past five years (2017 to 2022). The projected first-hand private residential unit supply for the next three to four years is 98,000 units, reaching a new high in recent years.