*******************************************************
According to the results of the 2009 Annual Survey of Economic Activities ¡ª Building, Construction and Real Estate Sectors released today (December 1) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the construction sector's total receipts (comprising gross value of construction works performed and other business receipts) amounted to $161.3 billion in 2009, representing a decrease of 6.5% compared with 2008; on a per establishment basis, total receipts decreased by 7.1% compared with 2008 to $8.0 million in 2009.
Operating expenses and compensation of employees of the construction sector altogether amounted to $150.4 billion in 2009, representing a decrease of 7.2% compared with 2008; on a per establishment basis, they decreased by 7.7% compared with 2008 to $7.4 million in 2009.
Gross surplus of the construction sector, which is equal to total receipts less operating expenses and compensation of employees, increased by 3.2% over 2008 to $10.9 billion in 2009; on a per establishment basis, gross surplus increased marginally from $0.53 million in 2008 to $0.54 million in 2009. Gross surplus accounted for 6.8% of total receipts in 2009, up by 0.7 percentage point over 2008.
Value added of the construction sector, which is a measure of its contribution to Hong Kong¡¯s Gross Domestic Product, increased by 2.4% over 2008 to $51.1 billion in 2009; on a per establishment basis, the value added was $2.5 million in 2009, which increased by 1.8% over 2008.
According to the survey results, it was estimated that there were some 20 200 establishments engaged in the construction sector which directly engaged about 135 300 persons, or an average of 6.7 persons per establishment, in 2009.
The survey did not cover labour-only sub-contractors that mainly supplied labour to work on a job-to-job basis, due to practical consideration in data collection. The employment figures above mainly covered direct employees of the construction establishments and did not reflect the labour input through the sub-contracting activities of labour-only sub-contractors.
Apart from the construction sector, the survey also enumerated establishments engaged in real estate activities; and architectural, surveying and engineering services.
Total receipts (comprising gross margin of real estate development projects, service and rental income and other business receipts) of establishments engaged in the real estate activities (including real estate development, real estate leasing, real estate brokerage and agency and real estate maintenance management) amounted to $130.6 billion in 2009, representing an increase of 4.2% compared with 2008. Operating expenses and compensation of employees altogether amounted to $55.8 billion in 2009, representing an increase of 2.3% compared with 2008. Gross surplus increased by 8.2% over 2008 to $73.4 billion in 2009. Gross surplus accounted for 56.2% of total receipts in 2009, up by 2.1 percentage points over 2008. Value added increased by 6.4% over 2008 to $97.2 billion in 2009.
According to the survey results, it was estimated that there were some 6 500 establishments engaged in the real estate activities which directly engaged about 108 300 persons, or an average of 16.7 persons per establishment, in 2009.
The total number of private building projects ever operated in 2009 was 192. As at end-2009, 137 projects, which were expected to provide a total 4.9 million square metres gross floor area of buildings when completed, were still under construction. Among them, 19% were on Hong Kong Island, 33% in Kowloon and 48% in the New Territories and outlying islands.
The survey excluded establishments which developed real estate projects for their own use as well as those which owned land but had not developed it during the reference year. Real estate leasing and other related activities undertaken by individuals or firms which engaged less than two persons (except for subsidiaries of real estate enterprises) were also not covered in the survey.
Total receipts (comprising service income and other business receipts) of establishments engaged in the architectural, surveying and engineering services amounted to $14.2 billion in 2009, representing an increase of 6.5% compared with 2008. Operating expenses and compensation of employees altogether amounted to $12.9 billion in 2009, representing an increase of 7.1% compared with 2008. Gross surplus increased by 1.6% over 2008 to $1.4 billion in 2009. Gross surplus accounted for 9.6% of total receipts in 2009, down by 0.4 percentage point compared with 2008. Value added increased by 14.7% over 2008 to $9.5 billion in 2009.
According to the survey results, it was estimated that there were some 1 700 establishments engaged in the architectural, surveying and engineering services sector which directly engaged about 23 500 persons, or an average of 14.2 persons per establishment, in 2009.
Selected statistics for the building, construction and real estate sectors are shown in the attached table.
More detailed survey results on the building, construction and real estate sectors will be given in the report "Key Statistics on Business Performance and Operating Characteristics of the Building, Construction and Real Estate Sectors". Users can download this report (in PDF format) free of charge at the website of C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/index.jsp) as from end-December 2010.
The classification of industries follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC), which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes. Upon the implementation of the HSIC Version 2.0 by the C&SD in October 2008, the new classification has been adopted in compiling statistics on the business performance and operating characteristics of various sectors from the reference year of 2009. The series of statistics on the business performance and operating characteristics of various sectors under HSIC Version 2.0 has also been backcasted to the reference year 2005 to facilitate comparison. However, the changeover has very little impact on the classification of the building, construction and real estate sectors.
For enquiries about the key statistics on business performance and operating characteristics of the building, construction and real estate sectors, please contact the Construction and Miscellaneous Services Statistics Section of the C&SD at telephone 2882 4684 or email building@censtatd.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:33
NNNN
