With the economic growth in the 1950's, more and more multi-storey buildings were built in Hong Kong. Sale of separate units of shops, flats or floors instead of the whole block was commonly adopted by the developers such as National Investment Co. Ltd. and Hung Hsing Construction Ltd. since the mid 1950's. Also, the purchasers could pay by installment rather than lump sum payment. According to Land Registry records, there was only one building split into 5 or more shares in 1948. By the end of 1961, the figure reached 3,708. The number of Assignments registered increased from 5,251 of 1955/56 to 9,980 of 1959/60. Registrar General in his Annual Departmental Report (1959/60) explained that "the jump was attributable to the fact that many large blocks of flat were completed, and the flats sold off as separate units." In 1961, R. H. Munro, Deputy Registrar General was appointed to chair an inter-departmental Working Party to study the legal and practical problems affecting sub-divided buildings. The Working Party submitted its Report in 1962 and recommended the appointment of a manager for each building. The Multi-storey Buildings (Owners Incorporation) Ordinance was eventually enacted in 1970 to enable the owners of multi-storey buildings to register themselves in the Land Office as a corporation.
