gests that 23% of a year's supply being available at any one time, or some 2.7 months' supply, is too tight and that a figure around 3 to 3 months' supply provides a better balance between supply and demand where supply is running at the level
Hong Kong
which obtained between 1959 and 1963. But just as before 1959 when new building was less and a smaller supply was standing idle at any one time, it is reasonable for 1964, a bumper year for new buildings, to have a higher "pool".
The following tables break down the 16,558 inspections and also the 8,055 vacancies according to types and districts: also is given in brackets in the case of vacancies the cor- responding figures for а year earlier:
Туре
Kowloon
New Kowloon
Totals
As % of all inspections
Large
Flats
753 (
753 1217
404
60
1217
= 62%)
404 (
=
1217
33%)
60 (
5%)
1,217
=
8%
1217
16558
Small
579
1409
579 (
Flats
= 28%)
1409 (
69%)
68 (
2056
2056
68 2056
2056
=
3%)
2,056
120/
16558
Tenement
Type
3457 (
Floors
3457 12936
= 27%) 5173 (
5173 12936
= 40%) 4306 (
4306 12936
12936
= 33%)
12,936
= 78%
16558
Western
Type Houses
13
0
3
16
Workers'
218
115
333
218 (
= 65%)
0
115 (
=
Quarters
333
333
35%)
333
= 2%
16558
Totals 5020 (
5020 16558
30%) 6986 (
6986 16558
4552
16558
=
42%) 4552 (
28%)
16,558
100%
16558
16558
(* Too small a number to be reckoned in this column)
New Kowloon Grand Totals
Total No. of Vacant Floors/Units
Premises, Type of
Hong Kong
Kowloon
Western-style
Houses
12 ( 18)
()
Large Flats
419 (106)
Small Flats
296 (210)
179 ( 34)
693 ( 588)
31 (16)
91 (9)
13 ( 18)
629 (156)
1,080 (807)
Tenement-type
Floors
Workers Quarters
1,596 (1,100)
2.497 (842)
102 ( 0)
6,181 (2,410)
152 (
92)
Totals 2,425 (1.434)
2,088 (468)
50 (92)
3,370 (1,464) 2,260 (585) 8.055 (3,483)
up
This shows that the significant changes are in large flats mainly on Hong Kong Island (up 4 times) and tenement-type accommodation over 21 times with the biggest in- creases in Kowloon (Tai Kok Tsui) and New Kowloon (San Po Kong and Kwun Tong).
The line between large and small flats was drawn at 650 square feet "effective" area. that is. internal usable area excluding apportenances. This is less than the much advertis- ed "covered area” and the relation- ship between "covered" and "effec- tive" varies according to the type of accommodation and its planning.
re-
of
A sample of 310 small flats vealed an average effective area 485 sq. feet, while an average effec- tive area for all those flats included under the heading "large" is 945 sq. ft.: a sample of 11 "not-so-large" gave 812
sq. ft. while another 60 "large" worked out at 1.194 sq. ft.
The tenement-type "floor" is now often an undivided space with cor- ridor access in a large building though sometimes it is "a floor" in the sense of an individual floor of one of two houses with a common stairway; the average effective area of these floors obtained from a random sampling of 688 of them is 385 square feet.
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 19, NUMBER 2
The effective area is adopted be- cause it provides a somewhat better guide to the number of persons who may reasonably be accommodated though it must be remembered this does not follow area alone for often the 385 sq. ft. floor houses people than a flat two or three times the size.
more
New buildings spring from fresh sites being made available and also, particularly in the case of domestic accommodation, from the redevelop- ment of pre-war buildings through tenancy tribunal proceedings to free these premises from rent control by excluding them from the further ap- plication of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. These proceedings in- variably are linked with rebuilding schemes.
There is also an increasing amount of redevelopment of post-war build- ings to obtain more intensive use of the sites. Exclusion cases under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance are often viewed in relation to the num- ber of cases, the number of old buildings involved and the amount of compensation awarded but it is also useful to look at the actual site areas cleared for redevelopment by the demolition of these old buildings and how it has varied over recent years reaching a high and sustained level in the last few years.
93