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2. The Demand: Land
is Much More than
Housing
After reviewing in-depth the latest situation of housing supply, this
Chapter gauges the demand for different types of properties, including
residential, commercial and social “hardware”, with a view to assessing the
latest demand-supply dynamics across various property sectors of the city.
2.1. Housing Market
As discussed in the previous Chapter, with the current-term
government stepping up its efforts in the provision of residential land
supply, the potential supply of residential units in the next few years is
expected to register some significant increases compared with the previous
decade (2006 to 2015). Yet, having examined the end-user housing demand,
we believe such an increase does not necessarily mean an excess supply
in the residential property market. It is more likely to be a catch-up to the
unsatisfied housing needs in the market.
In fact, the recently released statistics revealed that the vacancy
rate of private residential property market in 2015 was at its lowest level
since 1990, or over the past two and half decades. This clearly indicates that
a significant supply-demand imbalance still exists in the market (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Vacancy rate of private residential property market
Source: Rating and Valuation Department.
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