One Hong Kong developer is offering half-price flats in the world¡¯s most expensive residential market. Others have donated sprawling farmlands for public housing. And the scion of a property empire says it¡¯s time to put the city¡¯s betterment above profits.
Two years after street demonstrations rocked Hong Kong and Chinese authorities pointed a finger of blame at sky-high home prices, the city¡¯s tycoon developers are under pressure to help ease its housing crisis. Asia¡¯s pre-eminent financial hub isn¡¯t just expensive, it¡¯s also one of the world¡¯s most densely populated, squeezing most of its 7.5 million dwellers into tiny flats, or worse into smaller ¡°cage¡± or ¡°coffin¡± homes.
Attention from Beijing has made questions of equity and affordability an urgent concern for developers who¡¯ve long profited off Hong Kong¡¯s unbalanced market. On the mainland, Xi Jinping¡¯s crackdown on housing speculation and monopolistic business practices has brought numerous billionaires to heel. In Hong Kong, Carrie Lam¡¯s government has accelerated seizures of vast land banks held by local magnates and diluted their political power. The message is clear: better to be seen as part of the solution than the problem.
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