Editorial | Limiting Hong Kong land sales for now a wise move

That only a single plot of residential land will be put up for sale by the government in the second quarter should come as no surprise. Thousands of new flats will become available this year and in 2025.

And despite speculation about rate cuts in the United States, the local market is languishing in a high-interest-rate environment, while the mainland property market is not performing much better. Lumbering property stocks have lagged behind the recent rise of the broader Hang Seng Index.

Officials need to be carefully managing supply in light of the ongoing weak market sentiment.

Amid the gloom, a piece of good news is that the Extension of Government Leases bill will come into effect to automatically renew more than 300,000 land leases due to expire in 2047, the date that marks 50 years from the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

The residential site on offer is in Sha Tin and is expected to yield 570 units, part of 4,065 new flats equalling 30 per cent of the year’s supply target of 12,900 units. At 5,652 square metres (60,837 sq ft), the plot size is modest.

Given its location in a well-established and fully developed district, it is expected to attract the interest of smaller developers who have long complained that larger, more costly plots put them out of reach. The government also is selling an industrial site in Hung Shui Kiu, Yuen Long.