Hong Kong’s second starter homes for the middle class will be sold at 20 per cent less than market price
- About 1,000 homes – including studios and units with one and two bedrooms – will come up on Anderson Road in Kowloon
- But the first round of starter homes at To Kwa Wan was sold at a 38 per cent off-market price
The second “starter homes” project in Hong Kong targeting the middle class will be sold at 20 per cent less than the market price, a smaller discount rate than the first.
Critics said the reduced discount would not make the flats affordable to most, while a government adviser pointed out that the pricing ran against an established valuation mechanism for subsidised housing.
The 1,000 homes will be delivered by the private developer that wins the bid for the site on Anderson Road in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. The tender began on Friday and runs until mid-May.
The project will be a mixed development, containing both subsidised homes and others to be sold at market value.
“The government wishes to test out the arrangements of enlisting developers to build and sell starter homes units through inviting tender for the site on Anderson Road,” the Transport and Housing Bureau said in a press release. “[It] will make reference to relevant experience in considering the way forward for the pilot project.”
The scheme was one of six housing initiatives announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in her maiden policy address in 2017. It was aimed at benefiting people with too much money to be eligible for the government’s subsidised flats, but who do not earn enough to buy a home on the private market.