Sales of private flats are expected to increase after the Government lowered the income limit for the Home Ownership Scheme, according to a senior Cheung Kong (Holdings) official.
Executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung believes sales of units priced less than HK$2 million will rise as middle-income families which no longer qualify for the government scheme turn to the private sector.
The Housing Authority said on Thursday it planned to lower asset and income limits for the Home Ownership Scheme by 16 per cent, after considering the drop in prices over the past few years and falling interest rates.
Mr Chiu does not see it as a move to prop up the private residential market. With interest rates and prices low, homes were generally more affordable, he said.
There would also be a positive impact on the market if the Government extended a 10-month moratorium on sales of Home Ownership Scheme flats, he said.
Augustine Wong Ho-ming, general manager of the development department at Henderson Land Development, has said that take-up in the private residential market has been encouraging since the sale of subsidised flats was suspended.
