Current Housing Supply

59.         Supply shortage lies at the heart of the prevailing housing problem. In the past five years, on average only 9 800 private residential flats and about 15 000 PRH flats were completed each year; the figure for Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats was zero. In other words, the public and private sectors on average produced only about 24 800 flats each year in the past five years. In mid-2012, the vacancy rate of private residential units was 4%, the lowest in 15 years.

60.         With the concerted efforts of various departments, we have secured land for the development of about 75 000 new PRH flats over the five years from 2012-13 and about 17 000 HOS flats over the four years starting from 2016-17. The first batch of new HOS flats is scheduled for pre-sale next year. We have just put in place a scheme to allow 5 000 eligible White Form applicants to purchase on the secondary market in two phases HOS flats with premium unpaid. In a couple of months' time, we will put on sale about 830 remaining surplus HOS flats. The Greenview Villa project launched by the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) will also provide 988 flats.

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