Twice-unlucky public flat tenants to be prioritised for Hong Kong subsidised homes
Measure part of latest round of home ownership policy, which will see 2,576 flats at Kowloon Bay’s Wang Chi Court go up for grabs
Hong Kong public housing tenants who have already twice failed to get a subsidised flat will be prioritised when applications open in the third quarter of this year for the more than 2,500 homes at a new prime site in Kowloon Bay.
The initiative was announced in last year’s policy address and will apply to 2,576 flats at Wang Chi Court set to become available under the ballot-based Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH).
Approved by the Housing Authority’s subsidised housing committee on Thursday, the sales arrangement provides better chances for candidates who have applied unsuccessfully twice to the GSH, which is for public housing tenants, rather than applying to the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) for other residents.
A spokesman said authorities aimed to increase previously unsuccessful applicants’ chances, with the latest round of the GSH to allocate an extra ballot number to applicants who had failed to buy a flat the past two times.
The flats would go for 60 per cent of market prices, ranging from HK$1.15 million (US$146,500) to HK$3.49 million, with an average price of about HK$2.47 million, the government said.
It added that applications would cover the new site on Kowloon Bay’s Wang Chiu Road and some rescinded or unsold flats from past schemes.