According to the latest statistics released by the Department, the number of private residential units completed last year was 21,168, up 47% year-on-year from 14,386 in 2021, a record high in 18 years, and about 93% higher than the Department's forecast of 22,800 units at the beginning of last year.

In terms of saleable area, the largest number of units completed last year was 431 square feet (Class A) or below, with 9,881 units, accounting for about 46.7% of the total, a significant increase of about 88.2% over 2021 and a 34-year high since 1988.

Secondly, in addition to the largest number of Class A units mentioned above, small and medium-sized units of 431 to 752 sq ft (Class B) were completed last year, with 7,668 units, an increase of about 15.8% year-on-year.

Among the three major regions, the New Territories recorded the highest number of residential completions in 2022 with 13,011 units, representing a ratio of approximately 61.5%, while Kowloon and Hong Kong Island recorded 5,694 and 2,463 units respectively, representing a ratio of approximately 26.9% and 11.6%.

In addition, Centaline Property's Senior Associate Director of Research, Mr Wong Leung-sing, earlier predicted that there would be an estimated 20,377 private residential completions in 2023, a slight year-on-year decline.

Wong also said that the number of completions in the past two years had reached more than 20,000, and that the supply of private flats was expected to remain stable, at 20,000 per year from 2023 onwards.

Lau Ka-fai said that the number of disposed sites increased significantly to 23,000 units, a new high since five quarters; however, it takes time for projects to be completed from disposed sites to completion, and it is difficult to complete disposed sites overnight; instead, the completion volume in the next few years can be slightly known from the construction volume.

If we take the past five years together, a total of 81,000 units have been constructed, or an average of 16,200 units per year. It is expected that this number of units will be completed in the following years, and on this basis, it is believed that the number of completions will not increase significantly in the coming years.