Home Ownership Scheme flats attract queue at launch
Revived subsidy scheme draws hundreds to check out 5,000 used public flats for sale as the Housing Authority expects cash balance to dip
Hundreds of homebuyers seeking bargains waited in line at the Housing Authority yesterday, to get application forms for 5,000 used government-subsidised flats put out under a revised Home Ownership Scheme (HOS).
Among the roughly 600 prospective buyers who turned up at the authority's customer service centre in Lok Fu in the morning, some came to get the forms for themselves and some for their adult children.
"Because we don't have enough space to live together, I am looking for a [bigger] place with a reasonable price," catering worker Wilson Chan, 46, said. His family of six lives in a 750 sq ft flat in Whampoa.
The authority estimates some 270,000 families may be eligible for the subsidy scheme, which is open to households with monthly incomes up to HK$40,000 and assets worth up to HK$830,000. The caps for single buyers are exactly half those figures.
About 9,200 forms were given out at Lok Fu by 5pm yesterday.
Of the 5,000 flats available, 4,500 are set aside for family buyers and 500 for singles. They are eligible to apply for a loan of up to 90 per cent of the purchase price, for up to 25 years, at the best available bank interest rate minus 0.5 per cent.