Completed flats to exceed 75,000 in next 5 years

Government targets an early completion.

According to a release, the Government will strive for the early completion of public rental housing units slated for occupancy in the next five years.

This was the message from the Chief Executive's Office in response to media enquiries today on a press release issued by a political party on land and housing supply.

The office said the 75,000 public rental housing units slated for availability during these five years is a basic figure. The amount of completed units should eventually exceed this figure. The production figure will be updated annually in future.

An average of 15,000 new public rental housing units will be provided annually from 2012-13. Together with a net number of about 7,000 units on average to be recovered every year, about 22,000 units will be available for allocation to Waiting List applicants per year.

The Government will increase the production of public rental housing to an average of 20,000 units per year. However, as it involves land planning and consultation procedures, as well as designing and building, it will take about five years - 2018 at the earliest - for the new production target to be met.

As a production target, the total supply of public rental housing will be at least 100,000 units over the five years starting from 2018. By then, the number of public rental housing units available for allocation will be 27,000 units per year - 20,000 units plus 7,000 recovered units.

The office said the first batch of new Home Ownership Scheme flats will be completed in 2016-17 at the earliest, owing to the time needed for land planning, consultation and construction. However, the batch will be offered for pre-sale by the end of next year. A total of 17,000 HOS flats will be built over the four years starting from 2016-17. Production will continue to grow to an average of at least 5,000 flats per year.

Among the 391 hectares of idle residential sites mentioned by the political party, 19 of these sites, about 18.9 hectares, have been included in the 2012-13 Application List for land sale.

For the remaining sites, a number of them are of irregular shape which may not be suitable for housing development. Technical assessments are required for these sites to ascertain their development feasibility. Upon completion of studies for a plot of land, the Government will allocate the site for public housing development, or include it in the Application List for land sale, as soon as possible.