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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority's Subsidized Housing Committee (SHC) today (November 23) endorsed the income and asset limits for White Form applicants for the surplus Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats, the sale of which will commence in early January 2007.
Based on the established review mechanism, the income limit for family applicants will be lifted from $20,000 to $22,000 per month and asset limit from $480,000 to $610,000.
In line with previous practice, the income and asset limits for one-person applicants will be set at half of the limits for family applicants, with the exception of one-person elderly household where the higher Waiting List asset limit of $346,000 will be adopted.
For four-person elderly households (both nuclear and non-nuclear households comprising solely elderly members), the higher Waiting List asset limit of $712,000 will be adopted.
With the endorsed income and asset limits, it is estimated that the number of non-owner occupied households in the private sector falling within the HOS eligibility net will surge from 64 600 to 83 600.
"The income and asset limits are revised to reflect the rise in property prices and average mortgage rate as compared with that in the last review in August 2002," SHC Chairman Mr Michael Choi Ngai-min said.
"The limits are based on the established mechanism which aims to avoid overlap with the private residential market," he said.
The new limits will be reviewed annually until complete disposal of all the surplus HOS stock. The next review will take place in end 2007.
The following are details of the HOS Income and Asset Limits for 2007:
Household Size Monthly Income Asset
Limit ($) Limit ($)
1 person 11,000 (11,579) 305,000*
2 persons*** 22,000 (23,158) 610,000**
or above
* For one-person elderly households, the higher Waiting List (WL) asset limit of $346,000 will be adopted.
** For four-person elderly households (both nuclear and non-nuclear households comprising solely elderly members), the higher WL asset limit of $712,000 will be adopted.
*** The corresponding WL income and/or asset limits would apply if they are higher than the prevailing HOS limits.
Figures in ( ) denote the effective income limits should a household be contributing 5% of its income under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme as required by the law.
Ends/Thursday, November 23, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:16
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