Hong Kong’s chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, announced measures to curb the city’s hot property prices, as he named housing one of the government’s top priorities in his debut policy address this week. The move follows measures by rival wealth management hub Singapore to cool real estate prices.

According toHang Seng Bank, average private property prices soared more than 63 per cent over the last three years, fuelled by abundant liquidity and low funding costs. In a bid to cool the market, the government is channeling much of its energy on a reorientation of housing policy, which includes the proposal of freeing up land supply.

The Leung administration said more land would be rezoned for housing development, with 128,000 housing units (private and public) expected to come onto the market in the short and medium terms. In his policy speech on Tuesday, he promised to raise the annual target for construction of public housing units by a third from 15,000 to 20,000 after 2017. If this target is realised, the average total number of new flats built in the city annually would reach 45,000 units, starting from 2018.

The move is supported by various stakeholders, including The Hong Kong Institute of Housing, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and real estate specialists, such asCushman and Wakefield.

With such Asian jurisdictions as Hong Kong and Singapore proving to be a magnet for wealthy individuals - and their advisors - the affordability of property has become an important issue for people seeking to do business, and live, in these places.

Determination

“This is a clear indication that the government is determined to stabilise the property market by increasing housing supply to meet the market demand. It is believed that the disclosure of housing supply information will help to reduce the speculation on housing market and stabilise the housing prices in the long run, “ said Cushman and Wakefield, the world’s largest privately-held commercial real estate services firm, in a statement following Leung’s speech.

RICS said it also supported the government’s plan to further relax restrictions on wholesale conversion of industrial buildings as this provides financial incentives to landlords, which in turn would help increase commercial and residential land supply shortly.

Singapore’s government has also made headlines this week in relation to its property policies – deputy prime minister and minister for finance, Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam revealed measures to hinder speculative buying, including the introduction of a new sellers stamp duty.