Housing supply on track to add 94,000 units till 2021

Construction work of 25,500 flats started in 2016.

Cliff Tse, Regional Director of Valuation Advisory Services at JLL, said that is the highest level in 10 years and on par with levels recorded in the decade between 1987 and 1997. If this continues, Hong Kong’s housing demand and supply will be in balance again.”

Mr. Tse expects flats which entered construction in 2016 to be launched for pre-sale as soon as two years’ time. Given that government estimates suggest housing supply is on track to add 94,000 units in the coming three to four years, housing prices may stabilise.

Moreover, the Government should regularly examine removing some unnecessary demand-management measures in order to help activate the secondary home market, as this would be effective in increasing hidden supply for first-time buyers and those who want to trade up. The total private housing stock was 1.15 million as of 2015, which could ease the housing demand immediately.