Hong Kong's leader pledged to roll out further measures on Wednesday to moderate the city's red-hot property market amid signs previous initiatives have failed to halt the rise of home prices to levels beyond the reach of many residents. Since the densely populated former British colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997,a flush of hot money from mainland China,easy credit and low interest rates have pumped the local market to levels that have eclipsed the previous peak in 1997 and now stand as amongst the costliest in the world. Over the past few months property prices and rentals have continued to rise to such an extent that they are now beyond people's affordability,said Leung Chun-ying,Hong Kong's chief executive who took office on July 1. Tackling the housing problem is a top priority of the current term government,said Leung. Leung's comments come after he laid out a multi-pronged housing plan in August including promises to bolster land supply,public rental units and subsidised housing,though analysts said he stopped short of tougher measures including raising stamp duties on quick resales to dampen speculation. Hong Kong's de facto central bank also last month ordered banks to curb home loans to borrowers with more than one mortgage to prevent the city being flooded with hot money after the United States announced an aggressive new stimulus plan to spur growth. I would like to assure the public that the policy measures rolled out earlier are only a start,said Leung during his first speech to lawmakers in the legislature. In future,we will continue to implement timely initiatives to assist the grassroots with flat accommodation,help middle class families buy their own homes and promote the stable development of the property market. I and my team are committed to solving the housing problem. Some analysts,however,see little impact in a city that has already seen property prices rise 15 percent in the year to date according to UBS. A UBS report published on Monday predicted another 5-10 percent rise in Hong Kong home prices in 2013,given continued undersupply of housing units,low unemployment and steady interest rates and liquidity. Despite government efforts to increase land supply,we think projected land supply should fall 13 percent short of its target of 20,000 units per annum in 2012,it wrote.
