bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Sandy Li

Strong response to the Housing Department's Home Purchase Loan Scheme has sparked a new wave of buying interest for small-sized units in the secondary market, according to estate agents.

 By yesterday lunch time, the expanded Home Purchase Loan Scheme had distributed more than 70,000 application forms since it opened last Wednesday.

 More than 4,100 buyers have returned their applications - exceeding the 1,831 loans approved last year.

 Agents said the scheme, with the Hong Kong Housing Society's Home Starter Loan Scheme, had encouraged more potential buyers to visit flats with an asking price of $2 million at various housing estates in the past weekend.

 The Government aimed to help 22,000 eligible buyers a year - 10,000 from the Home Purchase Loan Scheme and 12,000 from the Home Starter Loan Scheme - to buy flats in a bid to stabilise property prices.

 Agents said the new buying force was still not strong enough to free the market from the doldrums, although demand for small flats would be boosted by various government subsidised housing-loan schemes.

 Victor Cheung, sales director of Midland Realty, said the secondary market had been revitalised by these housing-loan applicants but they had failed to lift prices.

 He said these buyers had a budget of between $1.5 million and $2 million and would consider other units if the owners raised prices.

 Successful applicants would become a strong buying force in the secondary market for the next six months, he said.

 About 10 per cent of the 1,700 transactions handled by Midland were with eligible buyers in the Home Starter Loan Scheme between mid-June and late July.

 Mr Cheung said some individual applicants could afford to buy flats worth up to $5 million.

 About 45 per cent of these transactions were made in Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi, he said.

 DBS analyst Winnie Chiu said the 22,000 genuine home-buyers helped by different government home-loan schemes would be positive for the secondary market.

 She said, however, that these home-loan applicants would not have a significant impact on the market as they would be approved by batches rather than a one-off group.

 Most successful applicants preferred to buy completed units they could move into quickly, despite being allowed to purchase uncompleted flats that would be ready for occupation in less than 15 months, she said.

 Developers are competing to offload their remaining units by allowing those qualified government-loan borrowers to pay just a 5 per cent initial deposit.

 A Hong Kong Housing Society spokesman said, so far, it had approved 1,500 eligible buyers in the Home Starter Loan Scheme.

 These buyers, who had managed to obtain a low-interest loan of up to $600,000, would have to make a home purchase within three months, she said.

 But they were entitled to ask for a three-month extension if they could not buy a unit before or on the expiry date.

 In the Home Purchase Loan Scheme, successful applicants from public housing can borrow an interest-free loan of up to $800,000 and those in private properties can borrow up to $500,000.



Loan scheme lures buyers