industry increased fairly rapidly in the years 1969 to 1971 and remained at a relatively high level in 1972. The temporary decline in the number of approvals in 1972 was due to certain administrative difficulties experienced during that year.
But it is possible that the rate of growth of activity in the building and con- struction industry was easing in 1973 and this was associated with the money supply situation.
(b) Completed Building Work
58. An idea of changes in the level of activity in the building and construction industry can also be obtained from the data relating to the cost and usable floor area of completed private buildings certified for oc- cupation by the Public Works Department shown in Table 19. The cost figures exclude property developers' profits, overheads and certain other items.
(c) Gross Domestic Capital Formation
59. The building and construction element of gross domestic capital formation, in current price terms, is set out in Table 20. It should
Expenditure on Building and Construction in relation to the Gross Domestic Product, 1968–1973
be noted that the capital formation figures shown relate to the private and the public sector and include property developers' profits, overheads and certain other items. The rate
of growth of building and construction ex- penditure increased over the period 1969 to 1970 and declined thereafter; the expenditure increased in the years 1969 to 1973 at a faster rate than the gross domestic product and, in consequence, it increased as a proportion (from 7% in 1968 to 12% in 1973).
60. Table 21 shows that expenditure on building and construction by the public sector declined in 1969, but it has since increased, and at much the same rate as expenditure on private sector projects. Public sector expend- iture on both residential and non-residential building declined in 1972 and 1973 (in all, by HK$51 million), but there was quite a sub- stantial increase (of HK$457 million) in this period in public sector expenditure on other construction and works.
Expenditure on Building and Construction by Private and Public Sectors, 1968-1973
Table 21
Private* Public Total
Public as a % of
total
Table 20
(HK$ (HK$ (HK$ million) million) million)
(%)
1968
477
325
802
40.5
(current market prices)
1969
620
298
918
32.5
on
Expenditure on building and construction
% change As a % HK$
of gross million previous domestic
% change
1970
902
347
1,249 27.8
in gross
domestic
1971
1,174 528
1,702 31.0
product
1972†
1,515
627
2,142
29.3
on
previous
1973
1,865
934
2,799 33.4
year product
year
1968
901
-34.1
6.9
4.8
* excluding property developers' profits, overheads
and certain other items.
† preliminary estimates.
1969
1,069
18.6
7.0
17.8
‡ forecasts.
1970
1,457
36.3
8.0
18.6
1971
1,978
35.8
9.7
11.6
1972*
2,510
26.9 10.6
16.4
1973† 3,251
29.5
11.5
19.8
* preliminary estimates.
† forecasts.
Property Prices and the Money Supply
61. The money supply was increasing at a much faster rate than the gross domestic product, in current price terms, in both 1971 and 1972 and in the first quarter of 1973, and this was a major factor accounting for the fact that share prices increased at a fairly rapid
20
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