Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1972-1973 — Page 8

totalling 506 officers, was distributed among the various Branches of the Department on 31st March 1973, and gives also the actual strength of the Department on that date. Table II lists the senior staff of the Department during the year.

The Property Market

3. The cost of new building work completed during the year in- creased slightly from $902m. in 1971-72 to $975m., the highest level since the $1,017m. record set in 1965-66. Owing to the increase in buildings completed, the number of units of domestic accommodation vacant in January 1973 as reported by the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation in a survey of the situation was up from 4,203 to, 7,012, while the pressure on all classifications of domestic premises as shown by indices prepared by the Commissioner dropped from 18.29 in 1971 to 15.76 in 1972. The demand for accommodation of most types eased generally but the sellers' market of recent years still prevailed. To help finance the continuing demand for domestic accommodation, the Government-sponsored Hong Kong Building and Loan Agency Limited increased its paid up capital to $20m. divided into 4 million shares of $5 each, of which one million shares were offered to the public in June 1972 at a price of $15 per share. This public issue was well supported and resulted in an oversubscription of approximately 23 times. The Company also raised finance in November 1972 by the issue of a sixth series of Government-guaranteed notes to a value of $30m., thereby bringing the total amount of Government- guaranteed notes to $112m. In addition, F.N.C.B. Financial Limited, a subsidiary of First National Overseas Investment Corporation, con- siderably extended its operations during the year by launching a home mortgage service under which the company advanced about 75% of the total value of the premises.

4. The demand for new land, both for industrial and other pur- poses, noted during the three preceding years continued throughout the year under review, and some lots were selling at public auction at two or three times the upset price. The continuing activity in the property market was also reflected in the number of Exclusion Orders made under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which at 174, was the second highest since 1965-66, and in the increase from 79 to 90 in the number of applications for modifications of Crown lease restric- tions, both of which are normally the prelude to re-development.

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