STRICT application requirements and tighter mortgage regulations have been cited as reasons for the poor response to the sandwich class housing scheme.
Only 1,557 submissions - about four per cent of those eligible - had been received by yesterday, two days before the application deadline.
The number was far below the estimates of the Housing Society, which originally hoped to select 2,000 families for interviews.
Officials yesterday insisted that the requirements were strict to ensure the first phase of the scheme would benefit those with a pressing need for buying homes.
But legislators and grass-roots organisations questioned whether the aim of the scheme to assist the sandwich class could be achieved if the requirements were out of reach.
Housing Society director (estate management) Wong Lai-chun said it was too early to judge the public response.