New Policy for Resumption of Home Ownership Scheme

Targets of Assistance

22.     We share the public’s concern about rising property prices and the difficulty in buying affordable small and medium flats.  The pressure is most felt by families whose household income exceeds the limits for PRH application but who may not be able to afford owning a flat.  With a monthly household income under $30,000, these families are unable to bear large down payments and mortgage repayments.  Their purchasing power is therefore rather limited in the current property market.  Moreover, the supply of private flats that they can afford has been diminishing.

23.     In response to the aspirations of low and middle-income families to buy their own homes, the Government now puts forward a new policy for the resumption of the HOS.  The new scheme will be targeted at families with a monthly household income under $30,000, mainly first-time home buyers.  Flats with a saleable floor area of 400 to 500 square feet will be offered at affordable prices.

24.      The Government will allocate sites for this scheme.  With the sites identified at this stage, we plan to provide more than 17 000 flats over four years from 2016-17 onwards, with an annual production of between 2 500 and 6 500 flats.  For the first year, 2 500 flats can be made available.  As more sites become available, we will set our planning target at 5 000 flats a year on average.  To be flexible, the actual number of flats to be built or put up for sale each year will depend on demand at the time.

25.     I have asked the Housing Authority to be responsible for producing flats under the new HOS.  The first batch is expected to be ready for pre-sale in 2014 or 2015.  To meet this target, the Housing Department has already started preliminary planning and investigations for sites identified in Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long, and will commence similar work for other sites shortly.

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