CE unveils major housing plan in 5th Policy Address

Increasing housing, land supply

Lam said the government has identified about 350 hectares of land to produce about 330,000 public housing units in the coming 10 years to meet the estimated public housing demand of around 301,000 units.

She said public housing production in the five-year tenure of the current-term government will reach 96,500 units, an increase of 30,000 units compared to the previous five-year period.

"The production of over 300,000 units in the ten years ahead will be back-loaded, with only one-third to be delivered within the first five years," Lam said.

On private housing, Lam said the government will strive to secure approximately 170 hectares of land in the coming ten years, and make available to the market sites for the production of about 100,000 units through land sales or putting up railway property developments for tender.

"Together with the 165,000 to 186,000 units that can be built on the newly identified land under the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy, the supply of housing units can go up to 565,000 to 686,000 units in the period of 10 to 15 years after 2031-32," Lam said.

Integrating into national development

Lam said Hong Kong will leverage the central government's support to enhance its competitiveness as the eight international centers or hubs charted in the 14th Five-Year Plan to build a brighter future for Hong Kong.

To boost the city's status as an international financial hub, Lam said government will step up efforts to support the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Limited in establishing a listing regime for special purpose acquisition companies in Hong Kong "after consulting the market".

The government will also expand further channels for the two-way flow of cross- boundary renminbi funds and developing offshore RMB products and tools, including looking into specific measures to enhance demand for the issuance and trading of RMB securities and allow stocks traded via the southbound trading under Stock Connect to be denominated in RMB.

Lam said government will also support the HKEX to promote cooperation with the Guangzhou Futures Exchange in financial product development related to carbon emission trading, and assessing the feasibility of developing Hong Kong into a regional carbon trading center.

She noted that Hong Kong is seeking to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as soon as possible.

"In the context of 'domestic circulation' under the 'dual circulation' development pattern of our country, we will continuously seek to create more favorable conditions for Hong Kong enterprises to enter the mainland market under the framework of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement," Lam said.