5. There remain other new projects in the pipeline, including projects planned in previous years and which developers had as a condition of obtaining an Exclusion Order under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance undertaken to complete within a specified period, and projects on lots sold by auction or by private treaty in respect of which purchasers had entered into similar building covenants.
6. Although the supply of domestic accommodation improved, the amount available still failed to satisfy demand, and the upward trend in rents continued. Increases were, however, to some extent moderated by the restraining influence of the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) Control Ordinance.
7. There remains the prospect of an enormous amount of re- development to come in some of the older parts of the urban areas in which action has been taken in hundreds of cases under the Demolished Buildings (Re-development of Sites) Ordinance to require the owner to re-develop the site of a demolished building. During the year Re-development Orders were registered in 103 cases, 22 less than in the previous year, making a total of 1,415 since the Ordinance was passed in 1963.
8. The foregoing is the background to the Land Office statistics for the year, the salient features of which, summarized from the details given in Part II and the relevant Tables, are as follows. The number of instruments of all categories registered was 97,387 which was 19,835 more than the previous record total of 77,552 in 1971-72. These in- cluded 1,981 assignments of whole properties, 30,529 assignments of units in buildings, 28,550 mortgages and 14,098 agreements for sale and purchase, the first three being also record figures. The grant total of considerations expressed in all instruments was $10,921m., an increase of $4,224m. over the previous record figure in 1971-72. Increases in aggregate considerations were recorded in most categories of instru- ments, particularly notable being the increase in the considerations for mortgages of all types where the total jumped to $3,791m. from $2,117m. in 1971-72. A total of 194 Crown leases was issued, and 345 lots or sections were surrendered to the Crown. The number of land- owners (excluding mortgagees) rose by 18,248 over the previous year to the impressive total of 222,649.
Companies, Trade Marks and Patents
9. An exceptionally high level of business activity had its repercus- sions on the Companies Registry, where the year again saw many
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