Department:
Real Estate and Construction
Research Centre: Ronald Coase Centre for Property Rights Research
Active Dates: July 2014 - February 2016
Principal Investigator: Lawrence W.C. LAI (PI), Daniel C.W. HO (Co-PI), K.W. CHAU (Co-PI)
Funding body: PPR-CPU
Introduction
Is the apparently long and complicated development process of residential units under Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) zoning due to a failure to obtain Town Planning Board (TPB) approvals? Or is it the developers’ strategy of hoarding land for the better timing of the sale of property units? Or is it to improve building design?
Objectives
Methodology
Publicly available TPB data, property transaction, Master Layout Plan (MLP) from the Planning Department were used to test various refutable empirical hypotheses.
Study Coverage: 01-1-1990 -31-10-2015
CDA projects: 380 (~200,000 units)
Residential CDA built and occupied: 65
(~100,000 units or around 50% of approved total)
Results
Land Summary:
a. Total area of all CDA sites for all years 724 ha
b. Total area of 65 developed CDA sites 278 ha
c. Undeveloped and potential residential area 446 ha (a – b)
The approximate housing capacity of undeveloped CDA sites is around 450,000 persons.
Conclusions
No direct evidence of deliberate delays or hoarding were found. Difficulties in land assembly and uncertainty of the property markets are the usual reasons given by practitioners we consulted as the most decisive factors in the lengthy process of development.
Policy Recommendations