Hundreds of subsidised flats set to go on sale in Tseung Kwan O and Tuen Mun
More than 600 homes will be sold at 30 per cent below market rate
The latest batch of 620 subsidised flats in Tseung Kwan O and Tuen Mun will be sold at 30 per cent below market price for between HK$1.92 million and HK$6.23 million, with sales starting on November 7.
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According to the society, a flat in Mount Verdant on Chui Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O, will be sold for between HK$2.19 million and HK$6.23 million, with an average of about HK$8,700 per square foot. The size of the 330 flats on offer ranges from 271 square feet to 684 square feet. They are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2020 at the earliest.
Flats in Terrace Concerto in Ming Kam Road, Tuen Mun, have a price tag of HK$1.92 million to HK$4.78 million, with an average of about HK$7,000 per square foot. The 290 flats have sizes of 297 square feet to 662 square feet, expected to be completed by the end of 2019 at the earliest.
A total of 70 per cent of the flats have two bedrooms, 20 per cent have one bedroom and 10 per cent have three bedrooms. All homes are fitted with standard home appliances such as air conditioners, stoves and water heaters.
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Similar to the Home Ownership Scheme by the Housing Authority, the two new subsidised flats will be sold at a discount on the market rate of about 30 per cent.
Half of all units will be allocated to green form applicants – current tenants of public housing – and the other half to white form applicants, residents not under public housing.
To be eligible, white form applicants must have a household income below HK$52,000 and assets worth below HK$1,700,000, for a family of two or above.
“The quota allocation between green form and white form applicants aims to strike a balance between encouraging the turnover of public rental housing and facilitating home ownership for the non-public-housing residents who can’t afford private flats,” said Eric Yeung Ka-hong, assistant director of development and marketing for the Housing Society.
The chief executive was recently quoted by a local newspaper as saying that the government would replace most rental public flats with subsidised flats for sale to green form applicants, when the stock of public rental flats hit 800,000. This would be slightly above the current number of 769,000 managed by the Housing Authority, the city’s main provider of public flats.
“We’ll support the government’s policy,” Yeung said. “We’ll see if we can do anything to help … and we are currently planning a few other subsidised flat projects for sale.
“We expect the application response to be quite keen. The geographical locations and prices are quite attractive. The flats should be sold out in a short period.”
He pointed out that the Home Ownership Scheme flats in Choi Hung and Mui Wo attracted more than 100,000 applications earlier this year and he expected a similar turnout for the two new projects.
The show flats in the society’s office will be open to the public from Tuesday. Applications will be accepted from November 7 to 20.