Applications open for first batch of Hong Kong’s discount ‘starter flats’ but the size of the units leaves some buyers unenthused
- Subsidised flats are offered at a 38 per cent discount and are open to people who earn too much for public housing but not enough to buy on the open market
- Buyers are scrambling for 450 flats in Hung Hom, ranging from 261 to 507 sq ft in size, in the pilot test of the starter home scheme
Small as it might be, a 300 sq ft one-bedroom flat in a new development in Kowloon going for HK$3.9 million (US$497,762) would be considered a bargain in Hong Kong’s red-hot property market, and for aspiring homeowner Stephy Ma it is her only shot of ever affording a new flat.
“It’s not a reasonable price at all for such a small flat, but we don’t really have much choice here, do we?” Ma said.
Ma was one of more than 700 people who took a tour of show flats for the city’s first batch of subsidised “starter homes” on Thursday morning when the scheme opened for applications – and was one of those unhappy with the small space they encountered.
The 450 flats in Hung Hom are part of a new government initiative aimed at helping eligible middle class families and single, young professionals get onto the property ladder by offering them at a 38 per cent discount.
The flats, which range from 261 to 507 sq feet in size, will go on the market from HK$3.14 million to HK$6.6 million.
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA), which was invited by the government in July to pilot test the “starter home” scheme, said 82 per cent of the flats at the “eResidence” project in Hung Hom, Kowloon are studio and one-bedroom flats. The rest are two-bedroom flats.