Newsletter No. 233

Information in this section can only  be accessed with CWEM password .   若要瀏覽本部分的資料， 請須輸 入 中大校園電子郵件密碼 。 • Personalia• 人事動態 •Personalia• 人事動態 • Personalia • 人事動態 • Person li a • 人事動態 •Personali • HKIAPS New Books Occasional Paper No. 139 An Inquiry into the Relationship Between Hong Kong's Current Economic Crisis and Housing Policy By Lok SangHo In this book the author argues that a misguided housing policy led to the collapse of the housing market in Hong Kong, which is the cause of its failure to recover from the economic recession that began in 1998. Evidence is presented for the theory that the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS), which offered sitting tenants the opportunity to buy their own units at steeply discounted prices, played a key role in the collapse of the housing market. Public housing tenants had been a significant player in the private housing market and, in particular, they had been the main purchasers of Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) housing. TPS essentially lured potential HOS and private housing buyers back to buying public housing flats instead. When they stop buying, private flat owners and HOS owners cannot trade up, thereby breaking the housing ladder. In addition to this effect, the huge overhang of supply created after 1997 also played a key role in preventing the housing market from recovering, notwithstanding a pick-up in exports. As housing is the main store of wealth for Hong Kong's middle- class households, a collapse in housing prices produced a huge wealth effect, curtailing consumption and private domestic investment. Unemployment shot up quickly. A collapse in housing prices is the key explanation for the emergence of deflation from late 1998. ISBN 962-441-139-5, paperback, 61 pages, HK$30 Research Monograph No. 57 Housing in Hong Kong: A Golden Jubilee Bibliography By Yue-man Yeung This bibliography is a companion to the book, Fifty Years of Public Housing in Hong Kong, published by The Chinese University Press, for both the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Like the companion book, this volume covers all major publications in English and Chinese on the subject between 1953 and 2003. Entries are listed under 15 major headings 一 general; housing policy; home- ownership; squatters, slums and illegal housing; urban renewal and resettlement; housing management and administration; land for housing; target groups; housing market and finance; planning and facilities; public participation; pressure groups; dissertations; reports of institutions; and book reviews. As a novel feature, it also covers references to housing on television programmes and websites. From the focus on public housing in the companion book, this volume broadens the subject to housing in Hong Kong in general. It is intended as a research tool for students of housing in Hong Kong. ISBN 962-441-557-9, paperback, 301 + i x pages, HK$80 4 No. 233 4th January 2004