DISCOUNTS offered on 5,500 Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats that go up for sale today have been cut by five per cent because the Housing Authority claims property prices have stabilised.
The authority will offer a 40 per cent discount on the flats in 16 blocks on the market today, compared with a discount of 45 per cent offered when the last HOS units went on sale in December.
December's discount was the largest offered in a decade and the sale was heavily over-subscribed.
Home-buyers with incomes up to $20,000 a month are now allowed to apply, following an authority decision to raise income limits by 11.1 per cent.
Average prices range from about $570,000 to $1.3 million for flats of 48.1 square metres to 82.6 square metres. The sale is expected to generate an income of more than $4.5 billion for the authority.
The Assistant Director of Housing (Applications and Home Ownership), Mr Marco Wu Moon-hoi, said the prices of the flats would be more or less the same as those in the last sale despite a lowered discount.
Mr Wu estimated that using the discount, 90 per cent of the families with incomes below $20,000 a month would use less than 40 per cent of their incomes on monthly mortgage repayments.