Number of new homes in hong kong hits eight-year high

Photo: Design Boom
Hong Kong's construction industry is moving forward at high speed, as the number of new housing units on the market jumped almost 90 per cent in 2014.

Construction began on 17,300 units last year, up from 14,100 in 2013, while the number of completed units surged 89 per cent year-on-year. Hong Kong's supply of new private housing rose to 15,700, according to official figures from the Transport and Housing Bureau, the highest level in eight years.

Experts now forecast a period of rising annual home supply, with Wong Leung-sing, associate director of research at Centaline Property Agency, telling SCMP:  "This year, we will see a decline to the 13,000 level as construction work on some projects has been delayed. But the overall picture is that annual flat completion and construction will increase."

Indeed, 74,000 new homes are predicted to come onto the market in the next four years.

"The annual supply of flats is to be maintained at between the 15,000 and 18,000 level in the next few years, given the government's determination to increase home supply," added d Ringo Lam Chun-chiu, of AG Wilkinson & Associates.