Introduction

Housing in Hong Kong has undergone major changes over the
past two decades. More than 1.3 million public and private
flats have been built. Today, public rental housing
accommodates about 2.5 million people (39 per cent of the
population) compared with 1.7 million in 1975. Since 1978,
the government has built more than 240 000 subsidised flats
for sale under various home ownership schemes. The joint
efforts of the government and the private sector have lifted the
overall home ownership rate to 52 per cent, compared with
42 per cent 10 years ago.

In 1997, the public sector produced about 46 200 flats, of
which about 22 300 were for sale, and the private sector
produced 18 200 flats.