2002 - 孫九招 Suen’s nine measures on housing

Background:

The Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 led to a drop of property prices. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s pledge to build 85,000 public housing flats a year, was suggested to have made the problem worse. Negative equity cases soared and the property price dropped to a record low. Frustration among the middle class and property owners grew.

Details:

Michael Suen Ming Yeung, then Secretary of Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau, implemented a series of measures in combating the crisis, including halting land auctions, suspending the home ownership scheme, and the selling of public housing etc. Event Explore Michael Suen Ming Yeung, then Secretary of Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau, implemented a series of measures in combating the crisis, including halting land auctions, suspending the home ownership scheme, and the selling of public housing etc.

Consequences:

It could be said that the measures laid the ground for subsequent shortage of land supplies in Hong Kong and arguably nourished the real estate hegemony. The decrease in housing supplies was thought to be the main underlying causes for the significant rise in property price in subsequent years. It has been become difficult, if not impossible, for an average Hong Kong citizen to own a property. This issue remains unresolved to this day and might be a source of further political turmoil. Dissatisfaction towards the land developers also grew as they monopolized the housing market and become the biggest beneficiaries of the government's housing policies.

This development later also gave rise to the public impression that there was a government-business collusion in Hong Kong.

News Report from South China Morning Post, 31 July 2003