The government said on Friday that eight residential plots it plans to roll out in the coming financial year can house around 4,450 flats, more than a fifth less than the figure from the current fiscal year.

Development Secretary Bernadette Linn said none of the plots in the coming land sale programme are able to accommodate more than a thousand units.

Five of the sites are in urban areas, in Tsuen Wan, Shau Kei Wan, Jordan Valley, Ngau Tau Kok and Ta Kwu Ling.

The others are in Tung Chung, Stanley and Tuen Mun, whose Hoi Chu Road plot for around 500 homes will be introduced in the next quarter.

Linn said officials want to roll out sites in urban areas because there are signs the property market is recovering and these plots should be quite attractive.

She said some of them used to be school campuses, wet markets or planned community sites and officials decided to rezone them for housing because they were no longer needed for their original purpose.

"Some of the government sites that have been developed in the past are not put to gainful use. Perhaps they have a lower development density, and after review we think that those sites can be put to better use," she told a press conference about the latest budget.

"So given that this is an ongoing task, I would not rule out the possibility of more of such sites being rezoned for residential or commercial uses in future years."

Linn said officials will study the market situation before deciding which of the rest of the plots to put up and when.

The minister added that the government decided not to keep three plots from this year in the next land sale programme, because of market conditions.

She noted that one piece of land is in Kai Tak and said that has been removed because of abundant housing supply in the area. The other two plots to go are in Tuen Mun and Cheung Sha on Lantau.