Hong Kong financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah warned yesterday that new measures would be rolled out to cool property prices if steps he introduced in the budget did not do the job.

The budget has been heavily criticised by lawmakers and members of the public for failing to address the difficulties many people face in buying a home.

The government has said it would sell six sites for luxury housing in the coming two years if developers did not make bids sufficiently high to trigger auctions for them under the application list system. Yesterday, Tsang said the supply of sites for small and medium-sized flats would also be increased to rein in property prices.

South China Morning Post