Hong Kong private housing supply jumps to 8-year high
Number of completed units up 89pc last year as market begins to stabilise
Hong Kong's new private housing supply rose to an eight-year high of 15,700 units last year, with analysts saying the city has started the transition to a period of more sustainable flat supply.
The Transport and Housing Bureau announced the official figures in a report on new private housing supply for the quarter to December.
The number of completed units last year represented an 89 per cent jump from 2013. Construction began on 17,300 units last year, compared with 14,100 in 2013.
Some 74,000 new homes are projected to come on the market over the next three to four years, unchanged from the estimate in the previous quarterly report.
Analysts said the sharp increase in supply stemmed from the completion of a number of large residential projects. They said a trend of more annual home supply had begun.
"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," said Ringo Lam Chun-chiu, from surveyor AG Wilkinson & Associates.
