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Following is a question by the Hon Selina Chow and a reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Frederick Ma, (in the absence of Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury), in the Legislative Council today (January 30)ĄG
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current total number of government quarters (excluding departmental quarters of the disciplined services) and their overall vacancy rate as at September 30, in each of the past three years;
(b) of the current number of the above units rented to members of the public; the average and longest vacant periods of such units before their current leases came into operation, and the loss of rental in the past three fiscal years due to the above government quarters being left vacant;
(c) given that the residential rental market in Hong Kong has boomed and rental has soared in recent years, whether the authorities have plans to rent out more of the above government quarters to members of the public, in order to increase government revenue?
Reply:
Madam President,
As a general rule, we will not allow government quarters to be left vacant for a prolonged period of time. If a unit is no longer required for its original purpose as a government quarter, we will, in the long term, put the unit up for sale or development. In the short term, we will let out the unit if it is suitable for leasing. Individual units may be temporarily vacant for various reasons. These reasons include: the quarters will be sold or put to development shortly; the quarters are in the course of allocation or will be allocated shortly to eligible civil servants; a small number of quarters are located within Government's work premises and are therefore not suitable for leasing; the quarters are being offered for leasing in the market; or they require refurbishment work and rental assessment to be done before they can be offered for leasing in the market, etc.
My reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:
(a) As at end September 2005, there were a total of 2 304 government quarters excluding departmental quarters of the disciplined services. Those quarters which were temporarily vacant included 178 quarters which would be sold or put to long-term development shortly, 190 quarters which were not suitable for leasing or would require preparation work before leasing and three quarters which were being offered for leasing by the Government Property Agency (GPA).
As at end September 2006, there were a total of 1 938 government quarters excluding departmental quarters of the disciplined services. Those quarters which were temporarily vacant included 18 quarters which would be sold or put to long-term development shortly, 139 quarters which were not suitable for leasing or would require preparation work before leasing and 41 quarters which were being offered for leasing by GPA.
As at end September 2007, there were a total of 1 849 government quarters excluding departmental quarters of the disciplined services. Those quarters which were temporarily vacant included 103 quarters which were not suitable for leasing or would require preparation work before leasing and one quarter which was being offered for leasing by GPA.
As of January 2008, there are a total of 1 804 government quarters excluding departmental quarters of the disciplined services.
(b) Currently, apart from departmental quarters of the disciplined services, a total of 523 government quarters have been rented out to members of the public, with another seven still on offer, representing a letting rate of 98.7%.
According to the leasing records in 2007, on average these units can be let out within two weeks after being offered. Individual units which have less market appeal, due to their lease term of less than two years, their less favourable location or other physical constraints, would generally take longer to be let out. The longest period required is around 3 months.
As explained above, these government quarters were temporarily vacant for specific reasons. We therefore consider that not offering these temporarily vacant quarters for leasing or not renting them out as yet should not be regarded as constituting a rental loss.
(c) Government quarters are provided for allocation to eligible civil servants to meet their housing needs. For those government quarters which are no longer required, the Government aims to put them to sale or development. In the short term, in order to optimise the use of public resources, the Government will continue to do its best to rent out those quarters which are suitable for leasing in the market.
Ends/Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:18
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