LAND AND HOUSING
145
valuable consideration. Registration is therefore essential to the protection of title, but does not guarantee it.
In spite of the substantial drop in the number of new private building projects over the past two or three years, many projects started in previous years were completed and the number of instru- ments registered during the year reached the record total of 48,654 as against last year's total of 46,929. The figure included, inter alia, 683 assignments of whole buildings or sites (against 756 in 1965); 19,505 assignments of flats and other units in multi-storey buildings (against 20,075); and 7,840 mortgages (against 7,822). There were, however, as a consequence of the decline in new building projects, marked decreases in the registrations of building mortgages (from 194 to 107) and in orders excluding premises from the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which usually have to be obtained prior to redevelopment of the sites of old buildings (from 230 to 22). On the other hand, evidencing some revival in the real estate market at the lower prices being asked, the number of searches, which must be made prior to every land transaction, rose from 40,264 to 52,040, and the number of agreements for sale of flats and other units in multi-storey buildings rose from 6,004 to 7,912. Compared with 1965, the grand total of considerations recorded in all instruments registered declined from $3,349,000,000 to $2,678,000,000.___
The volume of work in several other sections of the Land Office was affected by the slump in new projects. The number of conditions of sale, grant, exchange, etc of Crown land fell by 159 to 136. Consents granted to forward sales of flats in those cases where the conditions under which the land is held give the government the necessary power of control, fell by six to 101. The number of modifications and deeds of variation of lease conditions-usually a prelude to multi-storey development-also fell by 32 and 23 respectively to 20 and 12. The number of Crown leases issued rose by 122 to 387. The difficulties experienced by real estate developers were reflected in the sharp increase from 30 to 54 in the number of lots re-entered by the Crown for breach of lease conditions.
At the end of the year the Land Office card index of property owners contained the names of 126,516 people (an increase of 16,316 over the previous year), some owning several properties and others being merely owners of small individual flats.