There were 19,000 unsold units in completed projects and 40,000 unsold units under construction in the primary market as of the end of December, the Housing Department says.

This does not include about 10,000 units from disposed sites where construction has yet to start.

According to the statistics on private-housing supply in the primary market rolled out today, last year saw 17,300 private-housing units started under construction, the highest since 2003, and 16,600 completed, the lowest since 1998.

For last year's fourth quarter, there were 1,400 private-housing units started under construction, down 76% over the third quarter. The number of units completed in the fourth quarter rose 28.6% from the third, to 4,500.

On a yearly comparison, the number of unsold units of completed projects in the last year more than doubled to 7,000, from 3,000 in 2005. The figure for unsold units under construction also rose 41.7%, from 12,000 in 2005 to 17,000 last year.