Belt Auction

Why doesn't the Hong Kong government dramatically increase land supply until locals can afford housing?

This seems like the obvious solution. So why is the government messing around with small measures like speculation taxes, etc. I agree these small measures help. But the obvious big lever is land supply? Unlike other places, the government controls land supply when they auction off government land to developers. Hong Kong has lots of land. For example, Lantau Island is mostly undeveloped and it has an area larger than Hong Kong Island. Then there is the New Territories. So why don't they just increase that supply significantly? What am I missing?

Public Comments

1. We're in the US.