(Translation)
(Letterhead of Secretariat of Legislative Councillors & Research Centre
of the Democratic Party)
3 December 1996

Mrs. Vivian KAM
Chief Assistant Secretary (1)2
LegCo Secretariat

Dear Mrs. Kam,

In preparation for the meeting of the Panel on Housing to be held on 6 January 1996, I would like to raise the following questions. Please convey them to the Housing Branch and urge for an early written reply.

1. Please provide quarterly figures on the following for the period 1991-96:

1. the rate of rent increase/decrease for private housing;
2. the rate of increase/decrease in flat prices of private housing;
3. the rate of salary increase; and
4. the rate of inflation.

2. Please provide a breakdown in tabular form of the respective rent-to-income ratios and numbers of families which have an income of below $10,000, $10,001-$20,000, $20,001-$30,000 and $30,001-$40,000; as well as the respective mortgage-to-income ratios and numbers of families which put their flats on mortgage and have an income of below $15,000, $15,001-$26,000 and $26,001-$60,000 in 1996.

3. How many families in the territory meet the income limit of the Sandwich Class Housing Scheme(SCHS) between 1993 and 1996? Among those families which have been rejected in their applications for SCHS flats, how many are spending 50% or more of their income as mortgage repayment?

4. What is the vacancy rate of private housing between 1991 and 1996?

5. What are the respective ratios of the numbers of speculative property transactions to the total numbers of flat transactions in 1995 and the first three quarters of 1996?

6. What are the respective numbers of speculative property transactions and flats purchasing transactions carried out in the name of companies in the first three quarters of 1996?

(signed)
LAM Pui-yee
for Hon LEE Wing-tat
Chairman, LegCo Panel on Housing¡@

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(Translation)
(Letterhead of the Secretariat of Legislative Councillors
and Research Centre of the Democratic Party)
6 December 1996

Mrs. Vivian KAM
Chief Assistant Secretary(1)2
LegCo Secretariat

Dear Mrs. KAM,

In preparation for the meeting of the Panel on Housing to be held on 6 January 1997, I would like to raise the following supplementary questions. Please convey them to the Housing Branch and urge for an early written reply.

I. Private residential properties prices

1. When responding to question 1 on the rate of rent increase/decrease and the rate of increase/decrease in flat prices of private housing raised in my letter dated 3 December 1996, please provide answers with a breakdown by flat area in accordance with the classification (into types A, B, C, D....) of flats adopted by the Administration.

II. Rent Assistance

1. Please provide a list on the average waiting time for public housing in 1975-80, 81-85, 86-90 and the years of 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 and 96. What percentages of households on the Waiting List (WL) have waited for 7 years or more in each year from 91/92 to 95/96?

2. What are the rent-to-income ratios of those households eligible for inclusion into the WL and living in private housing in the past five years? Please provide in tabular form a breakdown by family size of the numbers of households living in different types of housing (whole flat, single room, bedspace, cage accommodation, rooftop structure.......); as well as the rent-to-income ratios of households with different family income.

3. How many people in the territory are living in non-self-contained flats? Please provide a list on the respective numbers of people living in the following types of accommodations: temporary housing, wooden house, cage accommodation, rooftop structure, bedspace, other kinds of subleased accommodations (such as cubicle, penthouse) which are not up to safety standard and are in overcrowded condition (with living density below 5.5 square metres per person),etc.

4. Please provide a breakdown by family size of the average income and median income of households on the WL.

5. Please provide a list on the respective numbers of households which have waited for one year, two years, three years.....etc. among the 150 000 households on the WL in 1996. Please provide a breakdown of such households by family size such as singleton household, two-person family, three-person family.....etc.

6. For those households on the WL which have been offered housing units in the past five years, please provide in tabular form the respective numbers of households which have waited for one year, two years, three years.....etc. (Please refer to the table below.)

7. What are the estimated numbers of WL households which will be offered housing units in each of the coming five years?

8. What are the estimated numbers of households living in private housing which will be included in the WL in each of the coming five years?

(signed)
LAM Pui-yee
For Hon LEE Wing-tat
Chairman, LegCo Panel on Housing

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(Translation)
(Letterhead of the Secretariat of Legislative Councillors & Research Centre
of the Democratic Party)
19 December 1996

Mrs. Vivian KAM
Chief Assistant Secretary (1) 2

Dear Mrs. Kam,

In preparation for the meeting of the LegCo Panel on Housing to be held on 6 January 1997, I would like to raise the following supplementary questions. Please convey them to the Housing Branch and urge for an early written reply from the Administration.

Private Residential Properties Prices

1. The Administration has indicated earlier that one of the methods to increase housing supply was to convert industrial land into residential land. What are the procedures involved in the conversion and how long will it take to have such procedures completed?

2. Please provide a list of the locations, areas and population capacity of industrial land identified for converting into residential land. Besides, please also provide a list of the locations and areas of industrial land which, in the opinion of the Administration, can be converted into residential land.

3. Please advise the current land reserve of each of the six major developers in the territory?

4. Please provide the Administration’s response to each of the suggestions contained in the report on property market published by the Consumer Council in July 1996.

Rent Assistance

5. With regard to those households which have met the Waiting List Income Limit but are not public housing tenants, please provide a breakdown by family size (singleton household, two-person family.......) of the respective numbers of such households who have and have not applied for public housing.

(signed)
LAM Pui-yee
for Hon LEE Wing-tat
Chairman, LegCo Panel on Housing

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