Results of Survey of Hong Kong People Living and Working in the Pearl River Delta Region released
Tuesday, December 14, 2004

A Mainland survey released by the Planning Department today (December 14), has found that the 31-50 age group accounted for the majority of Hong Kong people engaged in the foreign-funded enterprises in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) Region.

The "Survey of Hong Kong People Living and Working in the PRD Region" was jointly carried out by the Planning Department and Guangdong Provincial Department of Construction in the nine cities within the PRD Region.

"In connection with the rapid economic development of Guangdong and the intensification of Hong Kong and Guangdong economic interactions, there is a trend of increasing number of Hong Kong people to invest, work, purchase properties and live in Guangdong," a department spokesman said. "It is also envisaged that such a trend will be on the rise in the years ahead and also have implications on the socio-economic development and town planning aspects of both Hong Kong and Guangdong."

"As our previous surveys have been carried out within Hong Kong and focused on Hong Kong households living in Hong Kong, the Planning Department and the Guangdong Provincial Department of Construction in 2002 agreed to jointly carry out the survey, targeting Hong Kong people living and working in the nine cities within the PRD Region. This is the first time that Guangdong and Hong Kong joined to carry out a survey on the Mainland to find out information about Hong Kong people."

The PRD Survey comprised two parts - a survey of HK people engaged in foreign-funded enterprises (Foreign-funded Enterprise Survey) and survey of HK people living in major residential neighbourhoods (Residential Neighborhood Survey), and aimed at finding out information on the profile of Hong Kong people living or working in the PRD Region, residential properties purchased/rented by them, their marriage with Mainland people and aspirations for moving, and frequency of returning to Hong Kong.

The PRD Survey began in the second quarter of 2003 and was completed in August, 2004. In the Foreign-funded Enterprise Survey, about 3,000 Hong Kong people were enumerated whereas in the Residential Neighbourhood Survey, about 2,000 households were enumerated.

The spokesman said that the findings of the PRD Survey would enable a better understanding of Hong Kong people living and working in the PRD Region, which would be a reference for the Government to formulate long-term planning and development strategy, including the on-going HK2030: Planning Vision and Strategy.

As revealed by the PRD Survey, Hong Kong people engaged in the foreign-funded enterprises largely fell within the age group of 31-50 (about 68%). Males accounted for 87%. On the other hand, about 31% of those Hong Kong people living in the PRD Region were aged between 18 and 30. The gender distribution was more balanced (males 52% and females 48%).

In terms of economic activity status, about 79% of the Hong Kong people engaged in the foreign-funded enterprises were employees. As to occupation, managers and administrators accounted for the majority (up to 65%). Among the Hong Kong people living in the PRD Region, employees amounted to about 51% whereas 16% were retirees. With regard to occupation, professionals and associate professionals were the largest group (32%) and managers and administrators were up to 23%.

According to the findings of the PRD Survey, about 44% of Hong Kong people engaged in the foreign-funded enterprises lived in accommodation provided by the employers, to be followed by self-owned (35%) and rented accommodation (18%). On the other hand, the majority of Hong Kong people living in the PRD Region lived in self-owned accommodation (83%) while rented accommodation amounted to about 14%.

"Hong Kong people engaged in the foreign-funded enterprises worked in the PRD Region mainly due to such reasons as workplace in the Mainland and convenient for conducting business and investment. For the Residential Neighbourhood Survey, Hong Kong people living in the PRD Region were mainly family and living-related such as vacation, better living environment and lower cost of living," the spokesman said.

"Both the Foreign-funded Enterprise Survey and Residential Neighbourhood Survey indicate that most of the respondents (more than 70%) remained uncertain whether to move to other cities and only a minority had an intention of moving. There was also a similar proportion of marriage amongst the respondents. Yet, for the Foreign-funded enterprise Survey, those married people with Mainland spouse only accounted for about 10% whereas in the Residential Neighbourhood Survey, the percentage was up to 40%.

"Depending on availability of resources and feasibility, we would continue to explore and examine different channels and sources to find out more information relating to Hong Kong people living and working in the Mainland, with a view to ascertaining the pattern and development of such a phenomenon and providing input to the planning studies," the spokesman said.

The survey report has been posted on the Planning Department's website at http://www.info.gov.hk/planning and the HK2030 Study's website at http://www.info.gov.hk/hk2030. Guangdong Provincial Department of Construction has also posted the report on their website at http://www.gdcic.net.

Hong Kong Residents Buy Chinese Mainland Homes

BEIJING, Oct 26 Asia Pulse - Hong Kong people have spent 9.4 billion yuan (US$116 million) in buying as many as 18,000 flats on the mainland in the first nine months of this year, up 8 per cent year-on-year, according to a survey.

Land Power Group, a Hong Kong-based specialist on the mainland property market, predicted Hong Kong residents would buy 24,300-26,100 mainland units for 13.6 billion yuan (US$168 million) during the entire year.

The survey includes 1,160 Hong Kong residents owning property on the mainland. Fifty-three per cent of the respondents' education level was university graduate or above, and 35 per cent of the respondents have monthly household incomes of HK$30,000 (US$3,846) or above.

South China's Shenzhen, which neighbours Hong Kong, remained the prime city for Hong Kong property investors, accounting for 52 per cent of the total number of flat transactions recorded from January to September, up 4 percentage points from the same period last year.

A total of 9,200 flats in the city were sold to Hong Kong residents, the survey said, adding that 73 per cent of respondents agreed the geographical proximity of Shenzhen to Hong Kong is the very reason to settle in Shenzhen over other mainland cities.

About 70 per cent of Hong Kong investors owning a Shenzhen property expressed interest in buying another property.

Guangzhou came after Shenzhen, amounting to 16 per cent, or 2,900 flats, of the total number.

The property purchases in Shanghai, however, saw the largest drop of 3 percentage points amongst regions surveyed, highlighting concerns of a possible property bubble burst in the region.

Chairman of Land Power Michael Choi noted that the mainland's property market is regaining growth momentum as the central government's macroeconomic control is coming to a close.

Shenzhen property market marked an 8 per cent rise so far this year, and the survey particularly pointed out that the growth rate of the Guangzhou property market is set to outperform that of Shanghai and Beijing owing to the comparatively low price base there.

The property-spending spree was partly due to the increasing economic integration between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland and the appealing prospect of investment return on the mainland's property market.

The dynamic economic performance on the Chinese mainland is the key reason attracting Hong Kong investors to settle and purchase property over the boarder.

Out of the 1,160 total respondents, 33 per cent ranked the lodging demand as the main reason to purchase property in Shenzhen, and this figure has jumped from 31 per cent in 2004 and 21 per cent in 2003.

About 30 per cent of the interviewees said they bought properties for investment purposes. This percentage compared with last year's 28 per cent and 20 per cent in 2003.

"Hong Kong investors are hedging their bets on capital gain from the further appreciation of the RMB by investing in mainland's property market," Choi noted. "For the whole of 2005, the middle and high end property market in Shenzhen will see a 14 per cent gain, followed by 8 to 9 per cent in Guangzhou and 3 per cent in Shanghai."

"Looking ahead, the implementation of phase three of the Closer Economic Partnership arrangement together with the establishment of a series of Hong Kong and Shenzhen boarder-crossing projects will attract more Hong Kong professionals to settle on the Chinese mainland," Choi said.

Mainland home deals to rise 10pc

Hong Kong people may snap up as many as 26,000 residential properties across the border this year, up 10 percent from a year ago, as the city's economy moves closer to that of the mainland, according to property consultant Land Power International Holdings.

Danny Chung
Hong Kong Standard
Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Hong Kong people may snap up as many as 26,000 residential properties across the border this year, up 10 percent from a year ago, as the city's economy moves closer to that of the mainland, according to property consultant Land Power International Holdings.

Land Power chairman Michael Choi estimates the number of properties Hong Kongers will purchase in the mainland this year will reach between 24,300 to 26,000, compared with 22,300 to 23,500 in 2004.

The estimated value will probably increase by 9 percent to 13.6 billion yuan (HK$13.04 billion), he said.

Apart from improved cross-border infrastructural links and the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement free-trade pact, Hong Kong residents are also taking advantage of comparatively low mainland property prices amid hopes of another yuan revaluation, Land Power said.

About one-third of Hong Kong residents who bought properties across the border in the first three quarters of this year cited work reasons for their purchases, compared with only 5 percent in 2000, it found in a survey.

The number of transactions in the first three quarters was about 16,900 to 18,000, involving a total value of 9.4 billion yuan, both of which represented an increase of 8 percent over the same period in 2004, it said.

Shenzhen continued to be most popular, accounting for 52 percent of total transactions with Hong Kong buyers, followed by 16 percent in Guangzhou and 15 percent in the Pearl River Delta region. Shanghai accounted for 11 percent while other areas, including Beijing, made up the remainder.

Shenzhen has been leading the mainland's property market since August, with Shanghai still suffering from the government's austerity measures launched last year to cool growth in the sector, Choi said.

"[Shenzhen's] recovery has been the fastest" after the austerity measures Choi said, adding that property prices in the city in the first three quarters rose by 8 percent.

Centaline China's Web site shows prices ranging from 4,677 yuan to 8,775 yuan per square meter for residential property in Shenzhen's Lo Wu area in recent days.

For the whole of this year, Choi estimated Shenzhen prices would increase by 13-14 percent, with Guangzhou following at 8-9 percent and the Pearl River Delta will manage 2-3 percent growth. Shanghai's property prices may rise up to 2 percent this year, he said.

Number of residents living across border leaps to 91,000
Jonathan Cheng and Albert Wong
Hong Kong Standard
Friday, July 07, 2006

The number of Hong Kong residents living across the border has more than doubled in the space of four years to 91,000, according to a survey by the Planning Department.
Those who already reside across the border, or might want to move, generally prefer cities within Guangdong province, such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan.

Hong Kong residents living in those cities do so because of family or work- related reasons, but people who plan to move in the future say they are motivated by the lower cost of living, a better living environment and, in many cases, their impending retirement, according to the survey, which was released Thursday.

As of 2005, 91,800 Hong Kongers were living in the mainland, compared with 41,000 in 2001. The survey also indicated there were 212,200 mainland residential properties owned or rented by Hong Kong residents last year.

About 181,600 properties were owned by the residents while only 30,600 were rental properties.

Another 96,600 Hong Kong residents would like to rent or own property across the border in the next 10 years, according to the survey.

Roughly 73 percent of the properties owned or rented by Hong Kongers were flats in multistory buildings, the rest were houses. About 68 percent of the properties were solely for the use of the owners, serving as second homes or vacation retreats, while 16 percent were occupied by relatives or friends.

A total of 10,100 households were interviewed in the Thematic Household Survey on Hong Kong Residents' Experience of and Aspirations for Taking up Residence in the Mainland, commissioned by the department from May to July 2005.

More surveys are due to begin Saturday next week when the government will dispatch more than 4,000 census takers to every corner of Hong Kong, visiting high-rise flats, houseboats and village homes to compile information on one-tenth of Hong Kong's near-seven million residents.

Letters will arrive in the mail today to notify the 220,000 households that have been randomly chosen to answer the survey.

The by-census will last 18 days, and unlike a regular census is not aimed at a precise headcount of the population.

Instead, the by-census will collect more in-depth information on a smaller slice of the population that will go into a master database along with passenger movement records and birth and death records.

The information will be used to study trends in population changes and tailor local welfare, transport and education programs, as well as provide the private sector with data for estimating customer demand and planning investment.

The census takers, most of them university students, will be armed with raincoats, mosquito repellent and bottled water to fend off the perils of the Hong Kong summer, while those sent to the territory's outlying villages will be equipped with ultrasound dog repellent devices.

Those selected for the exercise are legally obliged to cooperate, and face fines of HK$500 or even jail if they fail to comply.

Those who are away on vacation will have to make alternative arrangements, while households will have a choice of scheduling specific times for their half-hour interviews, or filling out the form online.

Census commissioner Fung Hing- wang said the forms are likely to be too complex to be done properly on the Internet, and estimated less than 1 percent of households will do it this way.