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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:

A total of 25 728 flats in six public housing estates will be sold under Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) Phase 5 at attractive discounted prices, the Housing Authority's Home Ownership Committee (HOC) endorsed today (January 4).

With the first year full-credit, 99% of the flats will be priced below $300,000 and affordable to most of the tenants.

The six estates for sale are Tung Tau (II), Lei Cheng Uk, Tsui Ping (North), Kwai Hing, Pok Hong and Tai Ping. Tenants will soon be able to purchase the rental flats they are living in and fulfill their dream of home ownership.

The list price is set at a favourable discount of 55% off the assessed market value and an additional credit will be offered to tenants who buy their flat within the first two years. The first year full-credit, to be offered up to 31 December 2002, is set at 50% off the already-discounted list price, and the second year credit at 25%.

"With the first year full-credit, the monthly housing expenditure of most families after purchase, inclusive of rates, government rents, management fees and mortgage payments, lies between 0.9 to 1.5 times their current monthly rent. This rent multiplier is lower than those of the previous phases," said Mr Walter Chan, Chairman of the HOC.

Similar to the arrangement for previous phases, the Housing Authority will inject $14,000 per flat into a Maintenance Fund for each Phase 5 estate, providing adequate reserves for major maintenance works for the next ten years.

Since the introduction of the TPS in 1998, about 70 000 families have become home owners through the Scheme. With the expiry of the first year full-credit period of TPS Phase 4 in end-December 2001, 16 265 offers to purchase have been received, representing 61.6% of all the flats for sale. " The response is satisfactory, indicating that TPS is an effective means to help public housing tenants move up the home ownership ladder," remarked Mr Walter Chan.

End/Friday, January 4, 2002

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