Author: Lingde Studio Hanbai
According to sources, mainland officials have conveyed several important messages to Hong Kong real estate developers in several closed-door meetings this year. The report synthesizes the news of all parties and mainly has the following points:
1. The Central Authorities require Hong Kong's leading property developers to use their resources and influence to support the interests of the country and to help resolve the shortage of housing supply that may cause social instability in Hong Kong. In other words, mainland officials have urged the Hong Kong government and major real estate developers to work together to properly handle the deep-seated contradictions in Hong Kong society.
2. Mainland officials said: "The rules of the game have changed". The central government will no longer tolerate "monopolistic behavior"; this statement is in line with the general direction of the state of "preventing the disorderly expansion of capital".
3. A representative of a property developer, speaking on condition of anonymity, relayed the meaning of mainland officials: "As long as we give back to the community, we can continue to do business, and the industry needs to step up efforts to solve the housing supply problem." This means that the so-called "rules of the game have changed" mainly to curb the oligopolistic "monopolistic behavior" of Hong Kong real estate developers for many years, and does not mean that there will be major changes in the market-dominated model of "capitalism".
4. The anonymous property developer also pointed out that the central government had raised expectations, but did not specify the strategy or deadline. But Hu Yingxiang, chairman of Hopewell, added: "The central government did not tell us what we should do, only said that you want to solve the problem ... will not appear impatient, but will give you pressure." "In light of the two, mainland officials have not specified a specific strategy to solve the shortage of supply in the property market (this is obviously the responsibility of the Hong Kong SAR government and real estate developers), but have begun to pressure the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong real estate developers to deal with this big problem as soon as possible."
5. The state is currently making broader efforts to make Hong Kong comply with the National Security Law and to make Hong Kong people more "patriotic".
Central officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the shortage of housing in Hong Kong, and the author is not surprised by the reports of foreign media, but the foreign media quoted the information of people who did not want to be named, the beginning and end of the matter have yet to be further examined, and may not be accurate in details. But in any case, the central government wants the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong's major real estate developers to follow the pace of the country and deal with the "disorderly expansion of capital" and "monopolistic behavior", which should be the tone of the past; in fact, the general direction has never changed over the years.
In the 24 years since the handover, Hong Kong people have been obsessed with the so-called "democracy movement", but in the end they have exchanged for a "real estate city" with a per capita living area of only 161 square feet. Influenced by the "opposition" and the "Hong Kong pro-independence faction", the Hong Kong government has been unable to carry out land and housing reform. The "85,000 housing policy" of the Tung Chee-hwa era was eventually "stillborn"; the Ability of the Hong Kong Government to find land and build houses was seriously weakened by various reasons.
Since the establishment of the "Hong Kong National Security Law," coupled with "election reform," the "opposition" and the "Hong Kong independence faction" have been turned away, and the former opposition forces have been eliminated, the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong real estate developers should take advantage of the situation to properly handle the deep-seated contradictions in Hong Kong society, and there is no longer an excuse to "discuss without deciding, and deciding not to do it."
It is worth noting that in both socialist or capitalist societies, "disorderly expansion of capital" and "monopolistic behavior" should be curbed. Western countries have always had "anti-monopoly behavior" bills, when the industry "Big Mac" overly dominates the market and affects the national economy and people's livelihood, the Western government also has the responsibility to handle things well, and even through administrative and legal means to split the "Big Mac".
In addition, Germany has always had "rent control", while Singapore has "HDB flats" (public housing) for the vast majority of citizens to live. To put it simply, Western capitalism has the policy idea of "housing and not speculation".
Therefore, under the "one country, two systems", even if Hong Kong pursues capitalism, it does not mean that the Hong Kong government can acquiesce to the "oligopoly" of major real estate developers in the market, let alone let the "disorderly expansion of capital". Referring to the practice of the British government before the handover, the Hong Kong government should implement effective land and housing reform as soon as possible. In the British era of Hong Kong, the most famous is of course the "10-year Housing Plan". In 1972, the then Governor of Hong Kong, MacLehose, proposed a public housing scheme to provide public housing units for 1.8 million Hong Kong people (population of about 4.12 million at the time) and to develop new towns in Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun.
As we all know, Hong Kong is not without land, there are still 74% of the land in Hong Kong to be developed, and we can also reclaim land from the sea. According to online information, the four major real estate developers in Hong Kong alone have accumulated as much as 100 million square feet of agricultural land reserves, that is, about 929 hectares. What is this concept? If one compares the traditional Hong Kong housing estate "Cityplaza" (covering an area of 21.5 hectares), the farmland reserves of the four major real estate developers can build at least 43 "Cityplaza". There are 61 residential buildings in "Cityplaza", a total of 12,698 residential units, two large shopping malls in the city, at least two commercial buildings and garden terraces, etc. At present, the population of Cityplaza has exceeded 30,000. At a glance, the farmland in the hands of the four major real estate developers can already be inhabited by at least 1.29 million people. Moreover, Cityplaza was a residential project built in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with each building only about 30 storeys. With today's construction techniques, real estate developers may be able to accommodate more residents on their farmland.
Since the British government of Hong Kong and The United Kingdom at that time could implement such a drastic proposal of the "10-Year Housing Plan", what excuse can the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong real estate developers continue to push on?
This article was originally published on the Jianzhi Network, the original title of "The Central Government's "National Tasks" for Hong Kong Real Estate Developers? 》。