Pro-business party urges Hong Kong government to expand average living space

The Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) has urged the government to improve residents’ living standards by increasing home sizes. According to the city’s public broadcaster RTHK, the alliance has proposed a target to raise the current average living space per person of slightly over 170 square feet to a minimum of 190 square feet over the next five years.

During a briefing yesterday, the BPA argued that this adjustment would bring Hong Kong’s housing standards into line with those seen in other major Asian metropolises such as Tokyo and Shanghai.

Addressing concerns regarding potential impacts on housing affordability, BPA lawmaker Jimmy Ng suggested that the government focus its initial efforts on the developing Northern Metropolis. 

“I believe in the Northern Metropolis, understandably, as it’s relatively remote, so the land prices and the property prices will be lower,” Ng said. He suggested that encouraging residents to live, work, or establish businesses in this new community would directly support a significant expansion of living space in the long term.

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His legislative colleague, Aaron Bok, added that officials could increase the plot ratio at the mega hub, where land supply is deemed relatively sufficient. Bok noted that this approach would allow property developers to construct larger flats without necessitating a reduction in the overall number of units, RTHK says.

Beyond housing dimensions, the party also called for the government to incorporate a comprehensive population policy into its future planning to address the city’s declining birth rate. The local fertility rate fell to 0.734 last year, a figure significantly below the 2.1 replacement rate required for a stable population.

Legislator Sunny Tan suggested that officials should look beyond local solutions and consider the role of immigrants to the SAR. 

“I believe that as we are growing in terms of our industries, especially with the Northern Metropolis area, we do need a lot of technical people, and I would say those should be young technical people, it could be young couples coming in,” Tan said.