Development Conditions and Supply of Housing: Evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate whether a relationship exists between development conditions in government land leases and housing supply and to what extent these development conditions affect Hong Kong’s supply of private residential apartments. The Hong Kong government conducts regular studies on local housing demand, such as its 1996 study of housing demand model and study on housing demand. Thus, this paper will focus mainly on examining the supply side of private housing in Hong Kong by giving an overview of Hong Kong’s housing supply situation and, in order to understand Hong Kong’s land tenure system, a brief background review of the establishment of Hong Kong’s leasehold tenure system, as well as a global synopsis of the literature relating to the effects of the leasehold land tenure system, governmental land regulation, development/land use control, and restricted land supply on the housing market. A sample of leases will be randomly chosen to perform an in-depth analysis of the lease conditions to determine commonly specified development conditions in government leases.