//Currently, over 250,000 people are waiting for access to public housing. The number could be even higher, but Hong Kong officials have kept the cutoff at income of less than $12,000 per year. The critics say city officials refuse to change the threshold because it would mean Hong Kong would have to build even more public housing.

“The government requirement for eligibility for public housing is not realistic in terms of people who are living in poverty,” said Brian Wong at Liber Research Community, an advocacy group.

//A record 13% of apartments sold in 2019 were less than 260 square feet (24 square meters), or smaller than two car-parking spaces, according to a report by Liber Research Community released Monday. These tiny units accounted for just 0.2% of total sales in 2010.

Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices have made it difficult for the younger generation to get on the housing ladder. The city’s property affordability is the worst in the world, topping other housing hot spots like Vancouver, Sydney and Los Angeles.

//The investigation by Liber Research Community, an independent local policy research group, showed that some residential property buyers were making purchases through companies to avoid stamp duties.

According to data, the value of housing acquired through companies created to hold private property in the 19-month period totalled HK$26.6bn, equal to 5 per cent of total sales in the secondary residential market recorded by The Land Registry.

Researchers said they believed the actual figure was as high as 10 per cent, as cases examined were selected brd on news reports. The report also found that mainland Chinese investors have been the main beneficiaries of the tax loophole.

//Groups including Liber Research, an NGO advocating equitable land usage, have investigated hundreds of such shell companies, finding some shareholders to be senior staff of big developers.

The government gave no direct response to a Reuters inquiry on whether it had looked into developers’ rural land holdings.

//This is misleading, says Brian Wong, a member of the think-tank Liber Research Community, which focuses on urban planning and land use, among other local issues. Last month, the group revealed that Qianhai authorities had planned to extend the cross-border high-speed rail to the artificial island, unbeknownst to Hong Kong. A few days later the Secretary of Development Michael Wong said he had only learnt about the plan after reading media reports on it. The ensuing furore led Wong to further question the government’s motives behind the mega reclamation project.