Residential buildings stand in Hong Kong, May 11, 2019. (JUSTIN CHIN / BLOOMBERG)

HONG KONG – The city’s property developers completed building homes at a slower pace last year, exacerbating a housing shortage dogging city dwellers for years.

The number of finished private residential units dropped 58 percent from a year ago to 3,500 in the last three months of 2019. This is 4,400 fewer than the total number of units built during the preceding quarter, according to data released by the Transport and Housing Bureau on Tuesday.

The number of finished private residential units dropped 58 percent from a year ago to 3,500 in the last three months of 2019

This puts the total number of homes completed in 2019 at a four-year low at 13,700 units – more than 34 percent fewer than what had been built a year ago.

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Over the final three months of last year, the number of private residential units under construction fell 62 percent to 4,000 from the preceding quarter. During the same period a year earlier, however, the number of private residential units under construction was only 2,000.

For 2019, the total number of private residential units under construction was 18,500, barely 100 more than the year before.

The SAR government is stepping up its efforts to increase housing land supply in a sustained and orderly manner, said the Transport and Housing Bureau. 

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By the end of last year, 93,000 first-hand private residential units were expected to be available in the coming three to four years – a projection that has remained unchanged for the seventh straight quarter.

Overcrowded Hong Kong has been crowned the world's least affordable place to live in for the tenth consecutive year. A local family on an average needs to save up for 20.8 years without spending a single dollar in order to accumulate enough money to buy a home.