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Executive Summary


                    In the past, we have repeatedly warned about the chronic shortage and deterioration of land and housing supply. Hong Kong
                    is caught in a deadlock of “triple lows”, respectively in spade-ready land supply, housing completions and quality of living.
                    As previously predicted, good-quality land that is ready for large-scale and high-density housing development has become
                    rarer and rarer, since there has been a lack of large-scale and well-planned new town development over the past 20 years.
                    Instead, smaller housing sites become more common, of which some may require significant upgrade of the surrounding
                    infrastructures. As a result, the housing supply outlook remains challenging, with a constant downward revision on supply
                    targets and frequent delays in housing completions. In addition to a continuous decrease in housing completions, the average
                    size of new housing units is also expected to decline.
                    We urge the Government to take immediate action, by expediting all land supply initiatives and streamlining the approval
                    processes in land and housing development. We also call on the society at large to be united in supporting the Government’s
                    work in all land and housing development plans. The Government and the society must join hands and work together to save
                    Hong Kong from its land and housing supply crisis.



                     Low supply of spade-ready land due to a lack of land development


                  Hong Kong has been increasingly plagued by a lack of good-quality land for housing. This is because there has been no large-
                  scale land development over the past 20 years, and the stock from existing new towns has been gradually exhausted. The report
                  cites the land available for private residential development as an example, with the supply falling from the peak level of 25,500 units
                  recorded in 2017/18 to 13,020 units in 2020/21.
                  In addition to a reduction in quantity, a decrease in quality is also observed. In the Government’s land sale programme, the
                  proportion of development sites providing fewer than 100 flats has climbed to 40% in 2021/22, from a low of 10% in 2015/16,
                  setting a record high in nine years. Besides, a considerable amount of sites in the coming year’s land sale programme are non-
                  spade-ready, some of which are still subject to Outline Zoning Plan amendments while others are pending for the land clearance
                  procedure. It is apparent that the Government has exhausted its efforts in sourcing land for housing supply, but it has been a
                  matter of hard labour to little avail.






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