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Hang Lung wins permission for mixed-use project to go private

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Hang Lung Properties has won approval to convert a mixed-use development intended for subsidised housing into a purely private project, in the latest official move to halt the slide in property prices.

Hang Lung will release its 1,616-unit west Kowloon project to private buyers without the need to reserve units for low-income applicants as originally intended.

Executive director Terry Ng Sze-yuen confirmed that the project, being developed as a joint venture with the government, had won approval for sale as a private housing estate only.

The firm is awaiting a formal pre-sale consent.

Since an initiative in autumn last year to support property prices, the government has announced an 'indefinite suspension' of its subsidised Home Ownership Scheme and an intention to wind down involvement in direct provision of socialised housing.

The initiative is aimed at propping up property prices, which have fallen up to 65 per cent since their 1997 peak.

Other developers engaged in similar mixed developments, which compel firms to sell flats on subsidised terms and with deferred payment, are expected to apply for similar releases.

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