This Thursday (December 30), the Secretary for Development, Wong Wai Lun, announced at a press conference the land sale plan for the next quarter, including a residential site in Tuen Mun that provides 2,020 units. The relevant provisions will be implemented to include the minimum unit area and require practical use. The minimum area must be 26 square meters (approximately 280 square feet).
In addition, Wong Wai-lun also mentioned that the MTR’s 550 units of the Pak Shing Kok Ventilation Building development project in Tseung Kwan O will also make similar arrangements.
Wong Wai-lun said that he referred to the land sale terms of the pilot project of "Hong Kong First Home Buyers" on Anderson Road, Kwun Tong. The minimum saleable area of the project is 23 square meters (approximately 250 square feet), and considering that private housing is in the buying stage The level is higher than that of subsidized housing. In addition, only about 10% of newly completed private buildings in the past five years have less than this number. Therefore, the authorities chose to set the minimum unit area of Tuen Mun land at 26 square meters and believe this move Will not unduly affect property prices.
Sau Mau Ping, Kwun Tong, is opposite the former quarry on Anderson Road. The terrain is condescending. In the future, there will be a "Hong Kong First Purchase" and subsidized sale housing on the land.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Li Zetong)
Unit area and living space cannot be distinguished
Two months ago, the Development Bureau and the Planning Department issued the final report of "Hong Kong 2030+", which pointed out the need to "create opportunities for Hong Kong people to "live in big"."
Later, Huang Weilun wrote a blog about this. In the section "The vision of "Living in a big room" is not empty talk", he also wrote that "With regard to private housing, there are opinions that the government hopes that the government will require the minimum unit area in land sales or some redevelopment projects. How much... the government will consider in the future." Therefore, the society naturally feels that the above measures are to help promote this vision of "live in a big place."
However, according to the 2016 Population By-census results of the Census and Statistics Department, the median floor area per capita of a household in Hong Kong is only about 161 square feet, so the minimum unit area of 250 square feet this time does not necessarily help many people to increase their housing. space.
Unexpectedly, when Huang Weilun answered related questions from reporters, he claimed that the lower limit of unit area set this time and the increase in per capita living area are two different things, and emphasized that the two are different concepts.
The Secretary for Development, Wong Wai Lun, announced that there will be a minimum unit area for land sales in the next quarter.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
We must face up to the actual needs of citizens
More importantly, Wong Wai Lun’s individual speeches at the press conference seemed to indicate that the authorities still do not care much about the needs related to the "housing" of real citizens.
For example, he said objectively that some Hong Kong people "live in a big house" and others "live in a small house", and pointed out that if the property price is close to 30,000 yuan, if you do 80% or 90% of the mortgage, you can buy 280. The unit per square foot did not explain how to solve the current situation of high property prices and the public's burden of "property debt" for a long time.
On the morning of the same day, Chief Executive Carrie Lam had a conflict in her speech when she announced the relevant measures.
Because Carrie Lam listed the "Land Sale Plan" as one of the measures to "assistance the citizens to buy a home" and claimed that "housing is not a simple or ordinary commodity. It is used for housing, not for speculation." "What I sell" is my "consistent philosophy."
If this is the case, the Secretary must consider how to make people "live in peace" and combat speculation.
As the Special Administrative Region Government originally stated in the "Long Term Housing Strategy", "Our vision is to help all families in Hong Kong live in peace, so that they can live in suitable and affordable housing." "Settlement" must truly make the citizens feel their living environment. Appropriate" and "affordable".
Otherwise, no matter how many and large units are built in Hong Kong in the future, they may be exclusive to those with vested interests, and most other families will still find it difficult to actually obtain favors.
If you want people to live in peace, you must regulate the area of the unit, not just the number of units, ignoring the per capita living area, and curbing the speculation of HOS housing.
