Little chance of meeting new flat target, say experts
Government still to rezone many of the sites marked for sale for residential development
The government has little chance of meeting its target of selling enough residential sites to yield 13,600 new flats this financial year, analysts say.
"The town planning process for many of the sites has not been completed yet, and it takes a long time to rezone the land. The chances of the government meeting its target of 13,600 flats are not high," said Alnwick Chan Chi-hing, executive director at the property consultancy Knight Frank.
The government announced in March that it had set a target of selling enough sites in the 12-month period starting in April to yield 13,600 new flats.
However, to date it has sold just seven sites, which together can be developed into only 2,400 flats.
Another 2,500 new homes can be developed on nine sites to be sold in the next three months, an announcement by the Secretary of Development, Paul Chan Mo-po, said yesterday.
But that will bring the total to just 4,900 new flats, or little more than a third of the government's target.
Chan said: "About 22 sites in the land sale programme must be rezoned. Five of the sites have been rezoned and two out of the five will be released for sale in the coming quarter.
