Policy Address
Key Strategies and Targets
63. The Steering Committee on Land and Housing Supply and the Task Force on Public Housing Projects, chaired by the Financial Secretary and the Deputy Financial Secretary respectively, have submitted to me the first 100-day reports. After considering the proposals in the two reports, I have decided to set the following key strategies and targets:
introduce the new Light Public Housing (LPH), with about 30 000 units to be built in the coming five years;
increase the overall public housing production substantially by about 50% in the coming five years (from 2023-24 to 2027-28) as compared to the previous five-year period (from 2022-23 to 2026-27), taking into account LPH and traditional PRH;
cap the waiting time for PRH immediately. Taking into account the total supply of LPH and traditional PRH, the target is to cap the waiting time at the existing level of about 6 years and shorten it to about 4.5 years in four years' time (i.e. in 2026-27);
set a minimum size for newly-built flats. The saleable area of all subsidised sale flats completed from 2026-27 onward will be no less than 26 square metres in general, and the internal floor area of all newly-built PRH units (except for single-person and two-person units) will be no less than the equivalent threshold level in general Note;
deliver sufficient land for private housing development in the next five years to meet the projected demand in the LTHS and stabilise supply for private housing;
compress land production procedures such that the time required for turning "primitive land" into "spade-ready sites" can be reduced by around one-third to half;
make use of market forces by enhancing public-private partnership. A pilot scheme will be introduced to encourage the participation of private developers in building subsidised sale flats; and
expedite land production, build up a land reserve in the long run, and assume a leading role in land supply, so that the Government will stay on top of things instead of catching up with the demand.
Note: The internal floor area of newly-built PRH units (except for single-person and two-person units) will be no less than 21 square metres, which is roughly equivalent to the threshold level for subsidised sale flats of no less than 26 square metres in saleable area.