Chief Executive CY Leung said today that property prices depend on a number of factors including the external economic situation and supply level - which the Government is seeking to increase.
Mr Leung told a radio phone-in programme this morning that his Policy Address contained different measures to address the city's housing problems, which include providing more subsidised flats to meet the needs of different income groups.
He noted that there will also be a record high supply of 74,000 private residential units in the coming three to four years.
A caller questioned why the Government is still allowing 150 Mainlanders per day to come and live in Hong Kong when there is a housing shortage. Mr Leung noted that many of these people are the children or spouses of Hong Kong residents and that barring them from coming here would create not only family problems, but legal issues, too.
On the subject of recruiting talent and professionals from outside Hong Kong, he stressed that the targets of a scheme proposed in his Policy Address are not only Mainlanders but also the second generation of Hong Kong permanent residents who have emigrated overseas.
Mr Leung also said the city's constitutional reform cannot be solved by Hong Kong alone, as it needs the endorsement of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, in addition to securing a two-thirds majority in the Legislative Council and the Chief Executive's own approval.
