Why are property prices so high in Hong Kong ?

This video by Vox provides a great insight as to why the property prices in Hong Kong are so expensive and thus forcing ordinary citizens to live in smaller and smaller box units and even cage homes no larger than a car park space. 

The root cause of this problem is inefficient Government policies regulating land use. Only 3.7% of all urban land is let out to the people of HK to live.Of that 3.7 % of land, it is safe to say that 80% of the property is privately owned, with many developers bidding sky high prices per square foot each progressive year. There are of course Government housing, but as I checked only 4,400 was made available to the citizens in 2018. Public housing rentals are there too, but that again comes with a long waiting list and a whole list of eligibility criteria to fulfill. The rest of the time the land sales is bidded and the highest tenderer normally gets the parcel of land. Land sales is the main revenue generator for HK Government, so as to offset the negligible revenue from taxes. 

In Singapore it is the reverse. 80% of  the land meant for housing is  sold to the Housing Development Board (HDB) with a 99 year lease and subsidised pricing for the citizens who can use their CPF (retirement funds) to defray the deposit and grants provided up to $30,000 for units when the citizens live with their parents and $20,000 if they live close to their parents (within 4km radius). Hence, the prices are controlled for new sales, the buildings come with alot of amenities like ramps (for elderly), ample connectivity between the car parks and the blocks, the walkways leading to the bus stops  are covered hence minimising the use of umbrellas in case of rain. 

Town centres come well designed with a large hawker centres, connectivity, ample car park lots and high ceilings with latest mechanised fans for ventilation. 

Back to HK, the tenure is only 50 years (since 1997 when the territory was handed over to Chia) well within the life span of many Hong Kongers and then one is again forced out on to the street unless one has the means to buy the U$ 2000 per square foot of air space in downtown HK.

While there is easily 20 - 30% of usable land which can be tendered out for Government housing, it is few and far between resulting in many people waiting decades just to get a shot to live in one. In the meantime, they have to rent in squalid and cramped subdivided units. A 10 foot by 7 foot square mattress in a cage home goes for US$ 300 (S$ 400).

A room in Jurong Bukit Batok, of size 400 - 500 square foor which is perhaps 30 -45 minutes from downtown Financial District in Singapore can be rented out for a little more than US$ 500 (about S$ 700).  

A really sad situation for the poorer citizens of HK.   

So one may be able to afford an apartment, say in the 80s when price were cheaper and you were in your 20s then. Come 50 years later and in your 70s can you imagine you have saved enough (or your children) to buy another property which has probably price per square foot of 100 times of what you had paid for ??  

Taxes are amongst the lowest in the world, there is no GST, VAT, electronic road pricing and such. Hence land sales is the primary source of revenue generation and it is normally tendered out with the highest bidder winning.

The hardest hit are thus the elderly, poor families with young children and the divorcees.