The Government will monitor the market situation closely and ensure the amount of land supply in each year's Application List will meet market sentiments.

Secretary for Housing, Planning & Lands Michael Suen made the remarks while addressing the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers 25th Anniversary Dinner today.

In line with the established practice that land will be sold at market value, Mr Suen said the Government maintains a well-established system to assess each land sale application from the private sector and to decide whether to accept an offered price. The system is benchmarked on market prices.

"We will continue to sell land and make available a sufficient number of lots of different grading and size for the market to apply for, having regard to the overall situation in keeping a reasonable balance between supply and demand of residential housing," he said.

Government will meet land demand

Under the present circumstances, it is incumbent of the Government to ensure it is able to make land available to meet market demands.

"While we will make no judgment on the quantum of private housing production at any particular point of time, as this is a matter for the market, we will just make sure we will not be caught short when demand builds up," Mr Suen said.

"The market and the individual developers will continue to read the market sentiments, to analyse all sorts of relevant statistics in order to come to an educated decision as to the amount of housing stock which will be required to meet market demands at any one point in time. This will be a process which will be dictated by market forces and which has a proven track record."

3 principles of housing policy highlighted

Mr Suen outlined three basic considerations in the Government's Housing Policy - caring for low-income families; minimal market intervention; and, a stable operating environment.

He said the Government will keep its principled position of providing basic and decent accommodation to all under-privileged citizens.

"We have pledged to maintain a supply of public rental housing for needy applicants so to keep the average waiting time of those on the waiting list to around three years," he said.

CSSA rents may be remitted

Mr Suen said the Housing Authority is obliged to conduct a review of rent levels for public housing tenants to comply with the original court order arising from the case which is now the subject of an appeal hearing set for next month.

He said the authority has endorsed a targeted rent reduction in accordance with the court order terms, under which the rents of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance households will be remitted, together with a 10% rent reduction for other households.

"We believe this formulation should meet with approval from the wider community, as it would bring about moderate rent remissions to all public housing tenants and would, at the same time, cause the financial damage to both the Housing Authority and public purse to be kept within more manageable levels," he said.

Public consultation set for rent adjustment

Mr Suen said recent discussions have also revealed the current rent level review exercise clearly underscores the case for amending the existing legislative provisions governing rent adjustments.

"To me, the case for a new rent adjustment mechanism that is more rational, and which helps promote the long-term sustainability of the public housing programme is so patently obvious. We will consult the public on this important issue after the outcome of the appeal case is known," he said.