Could a Colonial-Era Golf Club Solve Hong Kong’s Housing Woes?

Solutions abound, first let the city place the price of the land at equivalence with a rented parking place in Central and the clubs make the required changes in member fees; that should expedite matters. Next send members to Shenzhen if they must play a short ride and city could launch special MTR cars so contact with public minimized. Hong Kong is linking through new tunnels with surrounding areas in Pearl River Delta, some might welcome richer clientele. Put the issue on the ballot and accept the outcome.

Nothing will save HK' soaring housing prices from all the hot money pouring in from mainland.

One less mentioned issue in Asian cities with sky high property prices is a rising number of owned but unoccupied homes. Property tax is low or close to zero for such cases, hence properties become a good store of value for the rich. From the government perspective, the statistics would suggest more than sufficient supply of homes, but in practice these units are not available. Unless the government decides to raise the tax for such proprieties to get some of these units back to the market, it’ll get increasingly difficult for planners to assess how much additional supply is needed.

If that land is to be kept undeveloped it should be turned into public parks. Having that land exist for the sole use of an incredibly small minority of wealthy residents is ridiculous. As others have stated, there are golf courses that are a short distance away located across the border, the golfers can use those. The land should be usable by the public; not reserved for the uber privileged.

Ironically, the scarcity of land drives HKSAR prosperity predated the takeover. The Brits derived a lot of the HK's reserve from the land leases from landfilled parcels. It used to be the gateway to the sanctioned China. Not anymore. Even Taiwan and China have regular commerce now. Macau has gambling but what does HKSAR has? The rise of HK super rich was and still is tied to real estate, never mind if Li Ka Shing was smart enough to diversified Cheung Hong into a genuine conglomerate and used the property development profit to take over Hutchinson Whampoa. In a bizzarre way, without high real estate price, it may not be possible to the 7+ million inhabitants to be self-employed, considering the civil service is still a major employer. Every so often, the HKSAR government would dole out special dividend. As the Chinese saying goes, the wool comes from the sheep. This is a corundum.

I grew up in Hong Kong since WWII era and I believe Hong Kong needs more housing not golf courses. Rich crooks may play golf in other nearby countries with more land. Give poor Hong Kong people better housing opportunities. Xi Jinping does not play golf and I am sure he will agree with my comment.

Keep the golf course and develop other vacant land while evaluating the impact of population growth and immigration (esp. from the mainland). Hong Kong is controlled by a few families, similar to China's mainland. If you're in good standing with the communist government/party, the world is your oyster.

The article also failed to mention that golf and other recreational facilities are available 5 to 10 miles north of the border in the river delta region of mainland China which are easy to get to and fits perfectly into the fast developing integration scheme for that area. To hold this relative vast piece of prime land for the exclusive enjoyment of a few thousand elite citizenry vs the vast majority of people who cramp into an average living space of less than 70 SF per capita is unconscionable.

Anyone who traveled to Hong Kong can see acres and acres of undeveloped land in the former British colony, and of course, the densely packed hi-rise buildings that house seven plus million people. Turning a golf course into more hi-rise condos is hardly the solution to solve housing "affordability" problem. Pricing can be manipulated, a matter of supply & demand. Hong Kong is now part of China again, and China is an ultra-capitalist economy under the so-called Communist Party. Can anyone find a "commune" in China? Under capitalism, individuals are encouraged to exploit each other, supposedly to expand the economic pie for everyone in a somewhat win-win situation. There will always be those left on the bottom of society. So far China has been able to get millions of its citizens out of poverty, a stupendous achievement. The young protesters in Hong Kong are feeling the affordability pain, for sure, but they don't see the bigger picture. French economist Thomas Piketty's book that focuses on wealth and income inequality shows it is a worldwide systemic problem. Be careful with biased reports that inflame the injustice-gatherers. They are always looking for others to blame. Jihadists and terrorists are easy to groom. Listen to NY Time's podcast series Caliphate, an excellent series.

Although I support the government taking a closer look on whether to develop parts or all of the HK Golf Club into public housing, the article is incorrect in implying that most of the land in Hong Kong "has already been filled with housing and concrete sprawl". In fact, a significant portion of the land in Hong Kong is used for country parks and remain undeveloped. The government just lacks the will to develop land in fear that it would reduce housing prices (and government revenue) which, in turn, would anger the core of their constituency (the "haves") as well as their own personal financial interests.