Construction Of Private Flats Speeds Up Dramatically

Official figures released by the government on Friday show that the construction of private flats drastically sped up in the third quarter of this year.

A paper prepared by the Transport and Housing Bureau said developers began construction on 10,500 flats in the third quarter.

The figure is more than double the total new starts over the previous two quarters, which was just 4,000.

It is also much higher than during the third quarter of last year, when construction began on only 1,900 private residential units.

Construction commenced on a total of 14,500 private flats from January to the end of September – 2,000 fewer than over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, a total of 10,100 homes were completed in the first nine months of the year – compared to almost 13,000 for the same period last year.

As of the end of September, more than 10,000 completed flats remained unsold.

The 24,600 flats either under construction or finished in the first nine months of this year was some 4,600 fewer than during the same period in 2018.

The government is holding onto its estimate that around 93,000 new private flats should become available over the next four years.