Property developers in Hong Kong

Since the British colonisation of Hong Kong in 1841 after the First Opium War, Hong Kong has grown from a stony outcrop on the southern coast of China to a territory whose property prices are among the highest in the world.^[1] The territory has a land mass of 1,111 km² (429 sq mi). According to government figures as at 2018, most of the land in Hong Kong is woodland, shrubland and grassland – much of which designated as country parks such as Lion Rock, Plover Cove Country Park and Sai Kung East Country Park, and only approximately 25% of the land mass out of the total territory is classed as "built-up". Most of the 7.3 million people in Hong Kong inhabit an area measuring 78 km² (30 sq mi).^[1][2] Excluding rural settlement housing, which represents 7% of the city's total domestic households, the remainder of the population is effectively squeezed into an area of 42 km² (16 sq mi).^[1] Property developers play a direct role in housing in Hong Kong, including the hoarding of approximately 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of agricultural land which could otherwise be used for housing.^[3]