【明報專訊】PROPERTY prices are rocketing, but the government refuses to resume regular land auctions. Since he delivered the Budget, Financial Secretary John Tsang has repeatedly said between eight million and nine million citizens now own properties and the government must have regard to their interests. Clearly, the government uses property owners as a shield. What do the more than eight million families actually think? The government has produced no data. We have therefore commissioned the Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong to conduct a survey. It shows 65% of the respondents who live in the properties they own think the government should increase land supply. The figure shows even property owners (who have vested interests) do not think it right to allow property prices to soar endlessly. Has the government tried to find out what property owners think? If it has not and persists in pushing property prices up by restricting land supply, it acts against the people's wishes in total disregard of Hong Kong's overall interest.