**********************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (May 21):
Question:
Regarding the statistics on owner-occupier households at year-end in each of the past 10 years, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of owner-occupier households in public and private housing; and
(2) among the owner-occupier households in private housing, of the respective numbers of those who (i) did not own any other residential unit, (ii) owned another residential unit, and (iii) owned two or more other residential units?
Reply:
President,
In consultation with the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) and the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), my replies to the Hon Cyd Ho's questions are set out below:
(1) Based on the statistics of the C&SD's General Household Survey (GHS), the number of owner-occupiers of public and private housing in the past ten years is shown in table 1.
(2) Based on the statistics of the IRD on stamping applications, the information on individual residential property buyers who are holders of Hong Kong identity card and who own other property(ies) in Hong Kong as at the date of the relevant agreements for sale and purchase is set out below:
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014
(as at March
2014)
Number of 39 634 44 074 33 609 7 846
cases where
the relevant
buyers do not
own any other
property in
Hong Kong
at the time of
transaction
Number of 34 825 30 604 19 979 3 540
cases where
the relevant
buyers are in
possession
of other
property(ies)
in Hong Kong at
the time of
transaction
IRD only maintains the above statistics starting from 2011. IRD does not have further breakdown in accordance with the nature and the number of the other property(ies) owned by the relevant buyers at the time of transaction, nor does the IRD have statistics about agreements for sale and purchase for residential properties involving individual buyers who are not holders of a Hong Kong identity card.
Ends/Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:30
NNNN
