Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing Yau Shing-mu told legislators Wednesday that the government's housing policy, which has remained unchanged since 2002, should continue to strive to limit the government's role in the housing market and principally focus on land supply, while withdrawing as far as possible from housing assistance programs, in order to minimize intervention in the market.

"The government's housing policy remains that set out in the statement on housing policy made in 2002," Yau said, replying to legislator Lee Wing-tat's question about whether the government has changed its housing policy.

Similar questions have been raised recently in the community after Chief Executive Donald Tsang said earlier this month that the government will carry out public consultations for five months on the issue of whether the government will provide more subsidized flats in the future.

The overheating local property market has shown initial signs of cooling down on worries that home supply will be significantly boosted in the future after the Chief Executive made the announcement and after the government recently announced a series of measures aimed at curbing speculative activities in the property market, including increased land supply in the future.

Home prices fell 1.0 percent over the week ended May 8 from the previous week, Centaline Property Agency Ltd, one of the biggest real estate broker agencies in the city, said in a report last Friday.

The transaction volume of properties has also declined significantly over the past few months, according to broker agents.

Yau, however, told legislators Wednesday that the government's housing policy remains unchanged from that spelled out by the then Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands in November 2002 on a housing market policy statement after property prices tumbled by over 60 percent against the peak in 1997.

The housing policy primarily covers three main areas, Yau noted.

First of all, "the thrust of the government's subsidized housing policy should be to assist low-income families who cannot afford private rental housing through the provision of public rental housing," he said.

Secondly, the government's role should principally focus on land supply.

Thirdly, he said, the government must maintain a fair and stable operating environment to enable the sustained and healthy development of the private property market. He added that the government should ensure an adequate supply of land together with the necessary supporting infrastructure to meet market demand.

These three priorities mean, said Yau, that public housing is provided to satisfy basic housing needs, while home ownership is driven by market forces, to which he added that the government does not compete with the private property market.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/20/2010 page3)