Northern Metropolis
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《HKFEI 2026 Policy Address Recommendations》
Hong Kong has laid a strong foundation for the next stage of growth, but the next policy challenge is no longer about how much more funding, units, land, or platforms to deliver — it is whether these investments actually improve the real choices available to students, families, talent, and businesses. The recommendations propose advancing Hong Kong from a model that prizes inputs and volume to an outcome-oriented, institutionally supported model of governance, with recommendations across four areas: AI in education, housing policy, the Northern Metropolis, and planning and policy-research capacity.
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From Bricks and Mortar to Building a Family — The Northern Metropolis Needs Policies That Help Young People Put Down Roots
The Northern Metropolis promises 500,000 new homes, but the down payment — not the mortgage — is the real barrier for young families. With private home ownership among 30-39 year-olds falling from 31.3% to 23.4% since 2002, HKFEI proposes a four-part Buyable, Available, Winnable, Liveable policy package, starting with reducing White Form HOS down payments from 10% to 5%.
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《Anchoring Talent in the Northern Metropolis: Four Policy Proposals to Help Young Households Put Down Roots in Hong Kong’s New Economic Engine》
We have released 《Anchoring Talent in the Northern Metropolis: Four Policy Proposals to Help Young Households Put Down Roots in Hong Kong’s New Economic Engine》. The study argues that for the Northern Metropolis to become Hong Kong’s new economic engine, it will need more than housing, railways and innovation hubs. It must also attract young working households to move in, become homeowners and put down long-term roots.
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《Submission on the Northern Metropolis for Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan》
The Northern Metropolis is Hong Kong’s largest spatial development project since the establishment of the HKSAR. It will not only accommodate a substantial share of the city’s future land and housing supply, but also serve as a critical platform for connecting with the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, developing innovation and technology, attracting talent and supporting young people in establishing homes. The development of the Northern Metropolis should therefore proceed with determination. Its success, however, should not be measured solely by the completion of site formation, housing and infrastructure projects. The real challenge is to transform the Northern Metropolis from a construction project into both a lifestyle choice and a market choice—a place where residents want to settle, businesses want to invest, and educational and research institutions want to establish a presence. In recent years, the Government has introduced a range of supply-side reforms relating to high-level coordination, land tendering, approval procedures and construction timelines. These efforts are moving in the right direction. Nevertheless, demand for commercial land and private-sector investment remains weak, suggesting that increasing the supply of land and housing alone may not be sufficient to create a vibrant new metropolitan area. If the first groups of residents have an overly homogeneous demographic and income profile, while employment, education, commerce, transport and community facilities fail to develop in tandem, the Northern Metropolis may repeat the early experience of some new towns, where residents moved in before adequate supporting facilities were available. It could ultimately become a “dormitory town” to which residents return only in the evening, or an inefficient district in which residential, industrial and commercial functions remain disconnected. The Institute recommends that the next phase of Northern Metropolis policy move beyond supply-side construction towards demand activation, demographic planning and the integration of urban functions. Public housing in…
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Northern Metropolis as a Bay Area Talent Magnet — Double the University Town, Pilot at Hung Shui Kiu and Nga Tam Mei
The Northern Metropolis must avoid becoming a dormitory town by doubling its University Town and linking education, research, industry, and housing. Hung Shui Kiu and Nga Tam Mei should pilot first, drawing young families and high-quality talent to settle in the North.
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Northern Metropolis Must Not Repeat Tin Shui Wai’s Mistakes: Public Housing Must Shift from “Rental” to “Homeownership”
As the Northern Metropolis takes shape, the government’s supply-side reforms are unprecedented — yet the market remains cool and the Tin Shui Wai lessons loom large. The authors argue that shifting public housing from ‘rent’ to ‘buy’ is essential to building a stable middle-class community and preventing a repeat of past mistakes.
