The Hong Kong government plans to build a million flats by 2046 to support the territory’s growing population. (Photo: Mstyslav Chernov, Wikimedia Commons)
Hong Kong’s plan to build a million flats by 2046 has drawn flak from some lawmakers for being unrealistic, reported The Straits Times.
In a population projection-based report released last month, the government said the city will need a million flats by 2046 to accommodate the growing population, which is expected to peak at 8.22 million by 2043.
“The government is being too optimistic to estimate a population of 8.22 million by 2043. Hong Kong continues to face low birth rates and an ageing population, we will not need a million flats,” said Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Wan.
He noted that the real problem is affordability and not a housing shortage.
“Hong Kong is not short of flats. There are plenty of empty flats which are not affordable to most people. In Hong Kong, many people buy flats for investments and such activities drive up the prices of flats.”
And given Hong Kong’s falling population, the city will only need half a million new flats, said lawmaker Edward Yiu, who represents the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency.
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong government raised the stamp duty for second-home buyers to 15 percent, in a bid to cool the property market, which saw median house prices increase for the sixth straight month in September.
Three days following the measure, however, Bloomberg reported that an 8,702 sq ft apartment within the exclusive Peak area was sold for HK$912 million (S$167 million), smashing the record psf price within the same development by 23 percent.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
