Opinion | Frenzy over Greenview Villa vanishes

The first eligible buyers selected by lottery for flats in Greenview Villa in Tsing Yi, a subsidised housing project by the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), were invited last week to choose their units. Guess how many turned up?

On the first day, just 60 per cent of the first 160 showed up. By Saturday, only 802 of the 1,600 applicants called appeared, and 717 flats were sold.

This was in sharp contrast to the frenzy when the development was launched in January that led to the flats being oversubscribed almost 60 times.

All that was needed was the payment of a token sum to be considered for placement through lottery and to enter into a formal agreement to buy only on choosing a flat. So the absence of those at the head of the queue means they have surrendered their right to a flat in the project.

At the time of the lottery, HKHS chief executive Wong Kit-loong said the overwhelming response reflected strong demand and predicted all 988 units in the development would be snapped up. As of Saturday, 271 flats remained unsold.

So, where has all the demand gone?