Government pledges property market stability

Financial Secretary John Tsang said the government will provide from 50,000 to 60,000 housing units in the next few years to ensure the property market's stability.

He noted the government will resort to supply and mortgage measures to maintain this stability. He said the slowdown in mortgage loan has also helped the property market's steady development.

His remarks came after news that Hong Kong could experience a housing boom in the next six years fueled by developers awash in cash from the prolonged low-interest regime.

“We have a combination of a red-hot market and a government trying to make more units available to buyers quicker,” said Wong Leung-sing, an associate director of research at Centaline Property Agency Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest property firm. “Of course, developers are rushing in.”

Property companies might have sold as many as 7,000 homes in third quarter, bringing the year’s total to more than 15,000 units for sales of US$19 billion. That compares with about 9,100 units for US$14 billion in 2011.