Page 15 - LH_Research_Report_2020_Eng

The inadequate supply of private homes may also be one of the many reasons that lead to a surge in housing price.
The Centa-City Leading Index (CCL) witnessed a three-fold increase from 58.5 in 2009 to 177.7 in 2019, despite a
series of demand-side management measures being introduced by the Government in 2009–2019.
Property cooling measures may be able to curb external demands and speculative activities. However, the
fundamental problem is that severe shortage of supply, as compared with strong domestic demand, precludes
property prices from falling off.

The living conditions in Hong Kong are also made worse by this supply-demand imbalance. Per capita
living space, calculated by dividing the total Gross Floor Area (GFA) by the number of people living
therein, can be used to indicate living conditions. As the GFA built for private housing grew at a slower
pace than the number of people living therein, the per capita living space was reduced as a result.

Quantitatively, it is observed that while the average living space for private housing residents had increased steadily
from 163 square feet in 1991 to 214 square feet in 2011, the trend was reversed afterwards, dropping from 214
square feet in 2011 to 207 square feet in 2016. It is further forecasted that it will continue to decrease to 205 square
feet by 2019.

To gauge the average living space for private housing residents in 2019, the average unit size of private flats is
estimated by using figures from the RVD while the average number of persons per private unit is estimated based
on recent trends observed from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).

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