Policy Address

Subsidised Home Ownership

64.       High property prices decrease the public's relative ability to purchase a home and result in a marked increase in demand from low and middle-income families for Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats or other subsidised flats.  Greenview Villa, put up for pre-sale by the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) at the end of 2012 and the first batch of 2 160 new HOS flats put up for pre-sale by the Housing Authority last month received an overwhelming public response.  We must therefore actively explore ways to increase the supply of sale flats through a multi-pronged approach by engaging public or non-profit-making organisations including the Housing Authority, HKHS, Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation Limited.  By so doing, more property choices and home ownership opportunities will be provided for low and middle-income families.

65.       The Housing Authority will put up approximately 2 700 and 2 000 HOS flats for pre-sale in 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively.

66.       The HKHS will also offer 1 600 subsidised sale flats for pre-sale in 2016-17.  Of these flats, 1 000 will be units provided in Sha Tin at the Government's request made in 2013.  Moreover, two sites in Tseung Kwan O and Tuen Mun respectively have been set aside for development by the HKHS, providing an estimated total of about 600 units.

67.       In addition to the Housing Authority's HOS flats and the subsidised sale flats of HKHS, I consider that there should be different forms of subsidised sale flats to meet the needs of different people.  To further improve the housing ladder, I have proposed to the Housing Authority that suitable flats should be identified among its PRH developments under construction for sale to Green Form applicants in the form of a pilot scheme, with prices set at a level lower than those of HOS flats.  Target buyers are mainly sitting PRH tenants and PRH applicants who have passed the detailed vetting and are due for flat allocation.  This scheme will help Green Form applicants achieve home ownership while releasing more PRH flats for allocation to families on the PRH waiting list.

68.       In addition, in light of experience gained from Private Sector Participation Scheme and mixed development pilot schemes, I consider that we can vigorously explore ways to further leverage the private sector's capacity to assist in increasing and accelerating the supply of subsidised sale flats.

Private Housing

69.       On private housing, according to the latest projection in December 2014, the housing supply from the first-hand private residential property market for the coming three to four years is approximately 74 000 units, which is the highest on record.  The private sector only produced an average of about 11 400 flats each year over the past five years.  Based on the preliminary assessment of private residential developments known to have started or to be started on disposed sites, the private sector will, on average, produce about 14 600 flats each year in the next five years, representing an increase of about 30%.  The Government will continue to maintain the stable and healthy development of the private property market through steady and sustained land supply and implementation of demand-side management measures when necessary.

Contents | Next