This sums up Hong Kong's recent strings of property cooling measures

These 5 rules spurred all the housing hoopla.

In an economic report by Hang Seng Bank, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, has delivered his debut Policy Address in the backdrop of a challenging domestic and external macro environment. 

Unsurprisingly, the Chief Executive said to take housing, a perennial contentious issue, as one of the government’s top priorities.

Average private property prices soared more than 63% over the last three years, fuelled by abundant liquidity and low funding costs, putting ownership out of reach of many first-time buyers.

Here's more from Hang Seng Bank:

Amidst widespread social discontent over housing affordability, CE has naturally taken this opportunity to offer positive responses to these concerns.

The government is channeling much of its energy on a reorientation of housing policy. The Leung administration said more land would be rezoned for housing development, with 128,000 housing units (private and public) expected to come onto the market in the short- to medium-term. In his policy speech today, he promised to raise the annual target for the construction of public housing units by a third from 15,000 units to at least 20,000 units per year, though he only aims to achieve this target after 2017.

If the target is realised, the average number of new flats built in the city annually would reach 45,000 units starting from 2018, providing 20,000 private units, 20,000 public housing units and 5,000 HOS units per year.