Thousands sign up for subsidised homes after Leung policy fails to impress

Hundreds of homebuyers flocked to submit their forms as the application for 5,988 flats under two subsidised housing schemes drew to a close late on Friday.

Some applicants who turned up at the Housing Society’s office in Tai Hang on Friday morning said they had their eyes on one of the projects after seeing little immediate relief for housing woes in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s policy address.

The prospective buyers are seeking homes at Greenview Villa in Tsing Yi, in which flats are being offered at a 30 per cent discount. The project is managed by the society and will offer 988 flats in 2015.

As of Thursday, the society had received more than 40,000 applications – more than 40 times the number of flats available.

A large number of prospective buyers also turned to second-hand flats to be sold under a revised Home Ownership Scheme (HOS).

On Friday morning, queues formed at the Housing Authority’s centre in Lok Fu where applications for the 5,000 used HOS flats were being accepted.

The authority said it had received more than 21,500 applications as of Thursday.

The application for both schemes closes at 5pm on Friday.

Flats will be allocated through a ballot system. The draw for Greenview Villa will be held in late February and the draw for the HOS flats will be in May.

In his maiden policy speech, Leung said he planned to increase land supply by opening up rural sites in the New Territories, through reclamation and by developing underground spaces.

But analysts say these measures will have little immediate impact on property prices.

The city’s property prices fuelled by low interest rates have soared to new highs since 1997. According to Centaline Property Agency, property prices rose 17 per cent last year.