〈The Standard,Jan.6, 2012〉Hong Kong land for Hong Kong people - that's the slogan Leung Chun-ying hopes will put him in Government House on July 1.

Announcing his platform on land policy yesterday, the chief executive candidate said newly developed property suitable for the middle class should only be sold or resold to Hong Kong residents.

He said all that is required is to insert the special clause in agreements for both new sales and subsequent resale.

``Adding the clause into land leases is a simple solution and avoids time wasted on legislation,'' Leung said. ``It addresses the community's concern that too many foreign investors are buying up Hong Kong residential flats.''

Leung said such a clause may only be added to new land to be sold and is not applicable to land now owned by developers or obtained by change of land use. He admitted the number of flats under the new proposal would be limited.

Leung denied this involved government intervention in the free market or that it would discourage property developers from tendering for land.

``There are policies not entirely led by the market, such as the Home Ownership Scheme, My Home Purchase Scheme and sites sold with flat-size restrictions. These measures can be implemented at the same time ... and we do not confine buyers to permanent residents. Other residents are allowed to buy as well.''

Leung also proposed an arbitration mechanism to resolve disputes over land premium assessments.

He also said Hongkongers should give up their ``island ideology'' and consider the territory as a part of the Pearl River Delta for the development of the closed area bordering Shenzhen.

Polytechnic University department of building and real estate professor Eddie Hui Chi-man said the theory of ``Hong Kong land for Hong Kong people only'' is workable by setting restrictions on land leases.

``HOS flats have a similar restriction on selling and reselling,'' Hui said. ``It might affect developers on whether to bid for such land. On the other hand, it is a policy thought out on behalf of the Hong Kong people.''

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions will not declare support for any candidate when the nomination period begins on February 14, said president Cheng Yiu-tong. Sixty members are on the Election Committee.

〈The China Daily, Jan.6, 2012〉The number of property deals in Hong Kong fell 33.1 percent in 2011 from the previous year as the government imposed a series of restrictions aimed at cooling the city’s housing market.

The Land Registry reported on Thursday that 108,814 sales and purchase agreements were signed during the year. The total value of the deals dropped 14.7 percent year-on-year to HK$588 billion ($75.7 billion).

The decline is explained in part by measures put in place by the government and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to stamp out property speculation. The government said in early December that it would relax those restrictions if economic conditions worsened. Buyers are also sitting on the sidelines anticipating prices will fall.

〈The Standard , Jan.5, 2012〉Home transations in the city slumped 54 percent in December year-on-year to 4,301 — the lowest level in at least 12 months — as growing economic uncertainties, coupled with the accumulated effects of government measures, has kept many would-be buyers on the sideline.

In value terms, home sales fell about 36 percent to HK$25.7 billion from HK$39.9 billion in the same month of 2010. The smaller decline in value terms was obviously due to the significant increase in home prices over the year.

On a month-on-month basis, the sales volume fell about 10 percent while the value was down 28 percent, according to data released by the Land Registry on Wednesday.

The December figures reflected the actual sales in November as it takes around one month to register a transaction with the Land Registry.

The slump in home transactions is likely to continue at least in the next several months, analysts said.

The figure — for transactions made in December — to be released by the Land Registry early next month is expected to remain at the low level of around 4,100 to 4,200 units, said Buggle Lau, chief analyst of Midland Realty. This compares with an average of over 10,000 units per month in 2010.

“Transactions in the secondary market remained sluggish in December and are unlikely to improve in the next few months,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the primary market, developers are expected to continue to launch new projects for sale, he tipped. “However, they are expected to be conservative in pricing their new projects.”

Patrick Chow Moon-kit, research head at Ricacorp Properties, also expects a weak figure this month, citing the holiday factor as well.

Both the January figure and the monthly average for the first quarter should be lower than 5,000 units, Chow reckoned.

Sales have been declining since the beginning of 2011 after the government unveiled a series of measures aiming to cooling down the city’s property market which has seen an over 70 percent increase in average price since the beginning of 2009 on ample liquidity and limited home supply.

The government imposed a penalty stamp duty of as high as 15 percent on speculative home transactions in November 2010, which is considered the most heavy-handed government tightening measure so far. It also accelerated land sales over the past year.

The uncertainty brought by the European debt crisis and the bleaker outlook for the global economy in general and for the Hong Kong economy in particular also weighed on the sentiment in the housing market.

〈The Standard, Jan.5, 2012〉The price of flats under the new My Home Purchase Plan will be capped at the time they are offered on the market, housing officials told lawmakers.

In a meeting yesterday of the Legislative Council panel on housing, government officials said the initial market price of the ``rent-to-buy'' flats under the scheme will serve as the ceiling price of the units.

This will guarantee tenants choosing the rent- to-buy option can, within a certain time frame, purchase the flat at the ``ceiling price'' to protect them from soaring property prices.

It will also enable them to set more specific saving targets, officials said.

However, lawmakers said they worry if the deficit incurred as a result of the ceiling price will be shouldered by Hong Kong Housing Society and ultimately be borne by the tenants.

The administration also proposed participants do not have to be confined to a period of tenancy to purchase a flat, and can resell it once the purchase is complete.

But some lawmakers said the proposal fails to fulfill its original intention.

Leung Yiu-chung, of the Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre, worries the proposal will encourage property speculation.

Wong Kwok-kin, from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said the scheme's original intention will be lost and degraded to become flats built by government for the private market.

As to the Tsing Yi site - the first project at Tsing Luk Street which will provide around 1,000 no-frills small- and medium-sized flats - the government said it will allow pre-letting in the fourth quarter of this year.

Under the housing plan, the government will provide land for the Housing Society to build no- frills small- and medium-sized flats for lease to eligible applicants at the prevailing market rent.

The tenancy period will be up to five years, within which the rent will not be adjusted.

Within a specified time frame, tenants of the My Home Purchase Plan may purchase the flat they rent or another flat under the scheme.

〈The Standard, Jan. 3, 2012〉The primary property market came back to life during the long New Year's weekend, but the cheer did not spread to the secondary market.

The Coronation in West Kowloon sold around 265 flats from the start of sale on Friday, with 306 of the total 740 flats made available up to yesterday.

Mainlanders made up 20 percent of buyers at the project - jointly developed by Sino Land (0083), Nan Fung, KWah International (0173) and Chinese Estates Holdings (0127).

And about half the total buyers already live in the West Kowloon neighborhood.

Two groups of Hong Kong buyers are said to be interested in buying eight and 10 flats, respectively, with each group planning to spend more than HK$100 million.

Another batch of 61 flats - expected to be available for sale today - was put on the market on New Year's Day, at an average price of HK$15,112 per square foot.

That is 10 percent higher than the first batch of 50 flats released on Friday at HK$13,688 psf.

Over at Tai Wai, Cheung Kong (Holdings) (0001) sold more than 15 flats at Festival City 3 during the long weekend, with around 520 of the 1,536 units changing hands so far.

Meanwhile, a record low of five transactions was recorded at the 10 benchmark residential projects on Friday and Saturday, according to Centaline Property Agency.

Five of the 10 failed to record any transactions at all, namely Kornhill in Quarry Bay, Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Whampoa Garden in Hung Hom, Metro City in Tseung Kwan O, and City One Shatin.

``The attention of buyers is still on the new- home market, which in part kept the secondary market slow,'' said Louis Chan Wing-kit, president for residential sales at Centaline.

Sale of flats at Chatham Gate in Hung Hom is expected to start after the Lunar New Year holiday.

``The poor sentiment is likely to drag on until after the holiday,'' said Chris Lam, a property agent in Telford Garden, Kowloon Bay.

``The secondary market in the area has been quiet for the past five months or so, which accumulated some buying power,'' he said.

``But as the market is still uncertain, many buyers have turned to the leasing market instead.''

Telford Garden saw no deals at the weekend.

〈The Standard , Jan.5, 2012〉Home transations in the city slumped 54 percent in December year-on-year to 4,301 — the lowest level in at least 12 months — as growing economic uncertainties, coupled with the accumulated effects of government measures, has kept many would-be buyers on the sideline.

In value terms, home sales fell about 36 percent to HK$25.7 billion from HK$39.9 billion in the same month of 2010. The smaller decline in value terms was obviously due to the significant increase in home prices over the year.

On a month-on-month basis, the sales volume fell about 10 percent while the value was down 28 percent, according to data released by the Land Registry on Wednesday.

The December figures reflected the actual sales in November as it takes around one month to register a transaction with the Land Registry.

The slump in home transactions is likely to continue at least in the next several months, analysts said.

The figure — for transactions made in December — to be released by the Land Registry early next month is expected to remain at the low level of around 4,100 to 4,200 units, said Buggle Lau, chief analyst of Midland Realty. This compares with an average of over 10,000 units per month in 2010.

“Transactions in the secondary market remained sluggish in December and are unlikely to improve in the next few months,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the primary market, developers are expected to continue to launch new projects for sale, he tipped. “However, they are expected to be conservative in pricing their new projects.”

Patrick Chow Moon-kit, research head at Ricacorp Properties, also expects a weak figure this month, citing the holiday factor as well.

Both the January figure and the monthly average for the first quarter should be lower than 5,000 units, Chow reckoned.

Sales have been declining since the beginning of 2011 after the government unveiled a series of measures aiming to cooling down the city’s property market which has seen an over 70 percent increase in average price since the beginning of 2009 on ample liquidity and limited home supply.

The government imposed a penalty stamp duty of as high as 15 percent on speculative home transactions in November 2010, which is considered the most heavy-handed government tightening measure so far. It also accelerated land sales over the past year.

The uncertainty brought by the European debt crisis and the bleaker outlook for the global economy in general and for the Hong Kong economy in particular also weighed on the sentiment in the housing market.