Lam’s policy address offers buyer options which could ease tiny flat fever
‘Starter Homes’ scheme, for instance, is aimed specifically at first-time buyers, allowing them to buy flats at below-market rate. Single people earning less than HK$34,000/m and households bringing in less than HK$68,000/m will be eligible
Hong Kong’s love affair with so-called tiny flats may start to ease off under new housing scheme plans revealed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last week in her maiden policy address, according to market observers.
Over the last year or so, developers have been investing heavily in flats barely bigger than a car parking space, in projects such as Edition 178 and COO Residence with more on the pipeline, to cater to growing demand for smaller units – known locally as “nano flats” – as sky-high prices prevent many potential buyers, especially young people, from owning anything bigger.
Some 30 per cent of new flats approved for construction in Hong Kong in the first five months of this year were less than 200 square feet in size, according to government figures.
Aimed specifically at first-time buyers, the chief executive announced a new “Starter Homes” scheme, for instance, selling flats to them below market rate.
If supply under the scheme increases in future, coupled with the generally increasing supply in public and private housing markets, the impact on the tiny flats market will be significant
Single people earning less than HK$34,000 per month and households bringing in less than HK$68,000 monthly will be eligible.