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Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (March 27):
Question:
According to the 2012 Annual Report of The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (The Link REIT), the average monthly rent of the shopping malls under The Link REIT increased from $25.4 per square foot in March 2008 to $35.8 per square foot in March 2012, representing a 41% increase. The Chief Executive Officer of The Link Management Limited has reportedly said that the year-on-year growth of gross sales of shop tenants in shopping malls under The Link REIT was over 10% as at September last year, and forecast that there could be a 7% to 8% rental increase in the coming two years. On the other hand, some residents of public rental housing (PRH) in remote areas (particularly those in Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung) have expressed that, due to the expensive external transport fares, they are very dependent on the shops in the shopping malls and fresh markets under The Link REIT in their housing estates in providing the goods and services of daily necessities. They have also pointed out that the expenses on food, education, transport, etc. have already been a very heavy burden on them (especially those households receiving social security assistance), and The Link REIT's rental increases will lead to price increases for goods and services sold by these shops, thereby further increasing the burden on their livelihood. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the total number of small shop tenants in the shopping malls and fresh markets under The Link REIT in each of the past five years, and the respective percentages of the gross floor area rented by these tenants and "the 10 largest tenants" of The Link REIT in the total gross floor area;
(b) of the respective medians for individual and household income of tenants in PRH in each of the past five years; among the PRH tenants in the two districts of Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung, the respective percentages of those tenants currently receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments and Disability Allowance, and the respective percentages of the family income of the PRH tenants in these two districts spent on meeting rental, food, education and transport expenses at present; and
(c) whether it knows the average monthly per-square-foot rent of the fresh markets under The Link REIT in each of the past five years, and how such figures compare with the rental of public markets under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department?
Reply :
President,
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) divested its 180 commercial and car-parking facilities through the listing of The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (The Link REIT) in November 2005. Since then, The Link REIT is a private entity which is entirely independent of the Government and the HA, and the management of its properties is solely the responsibility of The Link Management Limited (LML). The Government and the HA do not hold any shares of the LML and cannot and will not intervene in the day-to-day operation and business management of the LML.
For the first and the third parts of the question, they relate to the rental information of the LML. As mentioned above, The Link REIT is a private entity and neither the Government nor the HA has any involvement in its management. Hence, the Government and the HA do not have the relevant information as requested in the question. However, we have made enquiries to the LML in respect of the Dr Hon Kwok's question and the LML has provided some information for Members' reference.
According to the information that the LML provides, as at March 31, 2012, shops operated by independent operators with an area less than 1 000 square feet (excluding shops run by the top 50 tenants of The Link REIT, chain stores and listed companies) (Note 1) accounted for about 60% of the total number of retail shops in its property portfolio. Since the listing of The Link REIT, the number of such "small shop tenants" has increased by about 20%. As for the information on the rental levels of The Link REIT's markets and cooked food stalls of the past five years, please refer to the Annex. It could be noted that for 2011-12 and 2012-13 (as at September 2012), their average monthly per-square-foot rents are $65.2 and $67.3 respectively.
At present, the average monthly per-square-foot rents of the market and cooked food stalls under the HA are about $37 and $24 respectively while the average monthly per-square-foot rents of the market and cooked food stalls under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department were $31 and $30.9 respectively. However, we should not simply compare the rental levels. Since the rental levels are often determined by various factors such as the region of the markets, location of individual stalls, trade category, business nature and pedestrian flow.
Though The Link REIT is a private entity, we do expect that it can run its retail and shopping centre facilities based on the concept of "Shopping Centres for Local Communities" so as to cater closely for the needs and affordability of residents. The management of the LML had indicated previously at the Legislative Council that they understood The Link REIT would need to serve the residents of public housing estates. Hence, when determining the rental, they would take into account the business performance of the retailers and the market trend so as to try to maintain the rental at an affordable level. We will continue our dialogue with the management of The Link REIT, and relay to them the views from this council and the public.
As for the second part of the question, according to the information from the 2006 Population By-census and 2011 Population Census carried out by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the median monthly income from main employment of the working population of the PRH households in 2006 and 2011 were $8,000 and $8,790 respectively, while the median monthly income of the PRH households in the same period were $11,000 and $12,000 respectively.
As the 2006 Population By-census did not collect statistics on PRH tenants who were receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) and Social Security Allowance (SSA) including Old Age Allowance and Disability Allowance, we can only provide the data for 2011 here. According to the 2011 Population Census carried out by the C&SD, the number of PRH households living in Tin Shui Wai New Town was about 55 100. About 19% of the households were with family member(s) receiving the CSSA, and about 11% were with family member(s) receiving the SSA.
The number of PRH households living in Tung Chung (Note 2) was about 12 800. About 13% of the households were with family member(s) receiving the CSSA, and about 9% were with family member(s) receiving the SSA.
The C&SD conducts Household Expenditure Survey (HES) once in every five years to provide information on the monthly household expenditure by commodity or service. The latest HES conducted in 2009-2010 could provide relevant information regarding residents in the Yuen Long and the Islands Districts but due to the limited sampling size, there is no breakdown and analysis on Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung.
As reference, rental expenditure (including rates and Government rent) accounted for about 21% of the total expenditure of residents (Note 3) in the Yuen Long District. Expenditure on food and education accounted for about 31% and 5%, whereas travelling expenses accounted for about 11%.
As for residents (Note 4) in the Islands District, rental expenditure (including rates and Government rent) accounted for about 27% of their total expenditure. Expenditure on food and education accounted for about 25% and 5%, whereas travelling expenses accounted for about 8%.
Notes:
1. The LML stated that the company has been using this as the definition of "small shop tenants".
2. Referring to four District Council Constituency Areas, viz Tung Chung South, Tung Chung North, Yat Tung Estate North and Yat Tung Estate South.
3. Including both PRH and non-PRH residents.
4. Including both PRH and non-PRH residents.
Ends/Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:51
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