“We will not stop [creating land] because of property prices and the market; we will keep producing land,” he said. “Having created the land, we don’t need to sell it immediately. It can form part of our land bank.

“The message is that the government has land. But how and when to sell it, we will act according to market conditions. At the moment, it is of utmost importance to manage expectations and confidence … we will put [the land] on the market cautiously.

“Some have suspected that the government hopes to sell land to cover its budget deficit. That’s not the case.”

Chan revealed a deficit of HK$87.2 billion (US$11.1 billion) in his budget in February and outlined a series of measures to cut public expenditure and raise revenue to address the fiscal challenge.