Compiling a set of housing concerns on housing affordability (HK)

Compiling a set of housing concerns on a housing theme: on housing affordability

I. Housing theme: housing affordability in Hong Kong

II. Study note covering 4 news articles on housing concerns in Hong Kong with regard to the housing affordability theme [The key words that express specific concerns related to homelessness are in bold type]

News article 1: Stryson, E. and O. Lai. 2018. "Finding sufficient land won't solve Hong Kong's housing crisis on its own, and it may not even be the most pressing issue" South China Morning Post April 27 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2143559/finding-sufficient-land-wont-solve-hong-kongs-housing-crisis) [visited at June 15, 2018].

1.1. "This week, the government’s Task Force on Land Supply launched a public consultation revealing 18 proposals on where it believes the best opportunities are to free up land for housing. The hope is that this “big debate”, as coined by the chief executive, will lead to societal consensus on what land is deemed acceptable to develop. The question of where to find land dominates the housing affordability discussion. But is the exclusive focus on land the most useful approach and are the right questions being asked?";

1.2. "With the objective of identifying land in urban areas supported by existing infrastructure, the investigation revealed that measures to unlock underutilised land could free up 4,379 hectares and provide around 2.9 million units, six times the government’s stated requirement of 460,000 units over the next 10 years. If just 28 per cent of this were unlocked, it would satisfy the shortfall of 1,200 hectares for residential development with all necessary auxiliary services by 2046. It would do so without reclaiming land or cutting into country parks in any way";

1.3. "There has been continued debate over the accuracy of the government’s estimated land requirement. Our Hong Kong Foundation estimates a need of over 9,000 hectares over the next three decades while Professor Roger Nissim believes we do not have a shortage of land for development in Hong Kong";

News article 2: Li, S. and P. Sito. 2017. "Hong Kong's home prices are the world's highest. Can the city fix it?" South China Morning Post December 23 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2125379/can-hong-kong-untie-gordian-knot-citys-home-prices) [visited at June 15, 2018].

2.1.: "Since 2003, home prices in Hong Kong have soared 430 per cent, making the city the most expensive place in the world to buy a home among 406 urban centres tracked by the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey";

2.2.: "A major contributor to the exorbitant housing price is Hong Kong’s high land cost. That could make up between 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the total project cost, more than double the 20 per cent to 30 per cent range seen outside Hong Kong, said Far East’s managing director Chris Hoong Cheong Thard. “It is time for Hong Kong to consider changing its land sale policy,” he said...  Highest-bidder-wins-all is no longer the mainstream land sale policy in most countries, especially for plots located in city centres, said Christopher Law, founding director of Oval Partnership, a Hong Kong architecture firm.";

2.3: "What’s changed was the emergence of deep-pocketed developers from mainland China in the last two years, such as the HNA Group, which had no hesitation in bidding 50 per cent above market valuation to grab land. HNA paid HK$27.2 billion to buy four plots of land from the Hong Kong government at the former Kai Tak airport site over four months last year...";

News article 3: Li, S. 2017. "Hong Kong homes to become even more expensive in 2018, deepening the affordability crisis, analysts say" South China Morning Post December 11 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2123877/hong-kong-homes-become-even-more-expensive-2018-analysts) [visited at June 15, 2018].

3.1.: "The property market, already ranking as the world’s least affordable urban centre, will be propelled higher by the wealth effect from the booming stock market, record-low unemployment and high economic growth, the analysts said. They added that demand continues to outpace supply, providing strong support to price growth";

 3.2.: "Joseph Tsang, managing director and head of capital markets at JLL, urged the government to review price-cooling measures to get the market functioning properly. “The shutdown of the secondary sales market was one of the reasons behind Hong Kong’s housing woes,” said Tsang";

News article 4: Zhao, S. 2017. "Does Hong Kong have a housing crisis? The answer depends on whether you own a flat" South China Morning Post December 26 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2125641/does-hong-kong-have-housing-crisis-answer-depends-whether-you) [visited at June 15, 2018].

4.1.: "The priciest subsidised flat above 500 sq ft was a 592 sq ft home in Charming Garden in Mong Kok, which was sold in April for HK$8.8 million. Even homes that were previously public rental flats sold like hot cakes. Up till 2006, tenants could purchase their rental flats and after five years, sell them in the private market and return the government the discount they received originally";

4.2.: "Recently, the city’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she never pledged to correct surging property prices when she became chief executive on July 1 this year. Instead, what she hopes to reverse is the lack of affordable flats with her administration looking to boost land supply to achieve that";

4.3.: "Supporters praise the establishment of the task force as being able to initiate a society-wide debate and subsequently reach a consensus on long-term land supply. But critics say it is merely paving way for the government to conduct large-scale reclamation, ignoring other options such as developing degraded agricultural land, and using large areas of land in the New Territories for indigenous villagers to build small houses. Others complain that all the options are about long-term developments, which will not help to solve the immediate housing crisis";

The study note on housing concerns related to housing affordability in Hong Kong informs researchers to construct "a diagram on homeless-related housing concerns " in the agile literature review approach (ALRA).