〈Asian Post, April 21, 2018〉Good governance requires policy options to be properly explored and choices justified. Land-use planning is vitally important for society. It affects many interests and the outcome affects everyone’s well-being.The government’s planning process has identified Hong Kong’s land use and housing needs beyond 2030; it has so far not been able to find enough land for society’s many needs. Increasing land supply is the current “hot” topic, especially as it relates to housing.

The government appointed a special task force to consider land supply. It has identified a range of options of how soon the land could be made available for development and the public consulted. The task force was created not because the government couldn’t put a list together but it wanted non-government members to work out how to present them and get public reactions or buy-in on the more controversial options.

The task force is apparently batching options into near-term, longer-term and conceptual. It could just as well list them according to the degree of controversy. Some of them are not or should not be controversial in principle although details can be debated. Those should be prioritized for implementation. They include brownfields, privately held land banks and government-owned recreational land. The controversial options are reclamation, building housing on top of container terminals, and using country park land and reservoirs for housing.

In assessing options — beyond timeframes, technical viability and costs — an important perspective is to evaluate the likely benefits each option contributes to solving Hong Kong’s existing urban problems, and what it would take to produce optimal outcomes in the city’s best interests.

〈Asian Post, April 20, 2018〉Hong Kong's developers are building smaller flats as surging prices severely limit the amount of money first-time buyers can spend on property, with all but the smallest units beyond their budgets.

In Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City and Tin Shui Wai, 15 per cent of 3,300 flats in six projects approved for construction will be smaller than 200 sq ft in usable area, according to Buildings Department figures.

Leading the charge is Wing Kwok Enterprises, a privately owned local developer based in Sham Shui Po, a dense working-class neighbourhood in the northwest corner of the Kowloon peninsula. It is planning to build a 27-storey residential block, with the smallest unit having a usable area of 123 sq ft - smaller than a standard 20ft shipping container or a parking space in the United States.

"At that size, the unit will most likely feature only an open kitchen and a shower cubicle, which typically add about 10 per cent to the total area," said Victor Lai Kin-fai, a managing director of Centaline Surveyors.

Figures show that 27 per cent of Hongkongers did not ever expect to afford their own home, which "definitely deserves everyone's attention", said Nerida Conisbee, chief economist of REA Group, a digital advertising firm that specialises in property. REA conducted a survey of 1,003 respondents that showed 16 per cent of Hongkongers had no plans to buy property because prices were beyond their reach.

Across the world's most expensive city, micro flats - those with less than 200 sq ft of usable area - continue to be the favourite model for developers.

"The average price per square foot of smaller flats is higher than larger apartments, which will further encourage developers to build ever smaller units," Lai said. For example Kowloon Development sold a 209 sq ft flat at its 63 Pok Fu Lam project in Sai Ying Pun for HK$8.82 million, or HK$42,238 per sq ft, the highest price for a studio in the city.

〈The Standard, April 19, 2018〉Potential home buyers are warned to be cautious of the risks of rising of interest rates, amid the threat of a Sino-US trade war and geopolitics that may exert pressure on the property market.

The three-month Hong Kong interbank rate, which influences mortgage rates, hit its highest since 2008, edging up to 1.33661 percent yesterday.

If Hong Kong dollar rates climb in tandem with US rates, homebuyers will have to assess the risk for the potential of rising borrowing costs, Hong Kong Monetary Authority deputy chief executive Howard Lee Tat-chi said. He added that this would mean the interest rate for monthly mortgage payments will increase.

"The interest rate is trending up and home buyers will have to assess the risk," said Thomas Shik, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank (0011). "Ninety percent of mortgages are now linked to HIBOR, and the HIBOR has risen gradually in the past two to three years," he said.

Despite the rising risks in the property market, Kerry Properties (0683) launched the pre-sale of 143 apartments in its latest project in Mantin Heights, in Ho Man Tin. The units are priced between HK$26,000 and HK$51,000 per saleable square foot.

〈The Standard, April 18, 2018〉Hongkongers should be cautious when buying mainland properties, a pro-Beijing political party warned after more than 100 people were hit by losses in village houses that they purchased in Huizhou.

It is understood they fell into the trap of buying "homes with limited property rights" and under mainland government orders to be abolished.

The scam involved more than 140 homes that saw 100 million yuan (HK$125.05 million) change hands. Victims claimed they lost over 300,000 yuan each .

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong has asked the central government liaison office to pass on the complaints to the Huizhou government for appropriate action.

She said victims signed contracts with a committee charged with running the village near Huizhou, Guangdong.

Under mainland law, villagers can buy and sell agricultural land to each other, but they are barred from selling properties to outsiders or erecting high-rise buildings on land that they have purchased.

"This type of contract that the victims signed was not totally legal and the government cannot protect their rights as they were not legal," Quat said.

The affected Hongkongers hoped the mainland government will suspend demolition so they can negotiate compensation with the developers.

〈Asian Post, April 17, 2018〉Hong Kong's housing chief has ruled out imposing a minimum size on private flats being built in the city, despite complaints about a growing trend of people being squeezed into smaller homes.

Speaking at a special finance committee meeting of the Legislative Council yesterday, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan dismissed calls to regulate private developers' supply of micro flats, cautioning that aspiring homebuyers might not be able to afford larger homes, given skyrocketing property prices.

"If we set out some guidelines stipulating the minimum floor area of a flat, it means that aspiring homebuyers will face a minimum price for a larger unit. Will they be able to afford this [greater] minimum price? We have big reservations about this," he said.

Lawmakers across the political spectrum urged the government to regulate the size of private flats churned out by developers as government figures showed the number of micro flats measuring less than 215 sq ft was on the rise.

In 2017, 691 micro flats were available on the market, compared with 79 in 2015, while the number of flats between 215 sq ft and 430 sq ft soared to 6,200 last year from 2,056 in 2015.

The government expects 6,852 private flats measuring less than 430 sq ft to be completed this year, accounting for about 38 per cent of the overall supply of 18,130 for 2018.

Our Hong Kong Foundation, the think tank set up by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, also estimated that the average size of private flats completed between 2018 and 2022 would be 681 sq ft, equivalent to five standard parking spaces - an 18 per cent slide from the average of 833 sq ft in the past decade.