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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Priscilla Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, JP in the Legislative Council today (December 17):
Question:
Quite a number of young people have recently relayed to me their earnest hope that the Government will introduce measures to assist them in purchasing their first homes. In reply to a question from a Member of this Council on the fifth of last month, the Secretary for Transport and Housing ("STH") revealed that during the period from April 1998 to end of March 2002 when the Home Starter Loan Scheme ("HSLS") accepted applications, a total of 80,007 applications were received, of which 33,433 were approved and the remaining 46,574 were unsuccessful. STH also indicated that following the Government's repositioned subsidised housing policy in 2002, encouraging the public to purchase homes was no longer an objective of its housing policy. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of approved and unsuccessful applications under HSLS, broken down by the age group (each covering five years) to which the applicants belonged;
(b) whether it will review afresh the above subsidised housing policy in order to keep abreast of the times; and
(c) whether it will proactively examine the introduction of relevant measures to assist young people who have graduated from universities for less than five years but have got stable jobs in purchasing their homes?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the three questions is as follow:
(a) According to the information provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), HKHS received 80,007 applications between April 1998 and end of March 2002 when the Home Starter Loan Scheme (HSLS) was implemented. 33,433 applications were approved. The remaining 46,574 applications were unsuccessful because the applicants had failed to meet the eligibility criteria* or had not completed the application process. The age distribution of applicants is set out below:
Age group Approved Unsuccessful
applications applications
Aged 20 or below 236 4,680
21 to 25 7,172 8,692
26 to 30 14,131 16,325
31 to 35 7,055 8,341
36 to 40 2,741 4,155
41 to 45 1,072 1,899
46 to 50 558 959
51 to 55 270 484
56 to 60 125 184
61 or above 73 855
* To be eligible for HSLS, an applicant must be aged 18 or above and meet the requirements on income and asset limits, and the residence requirement.
(b)&(c) As mentioned in my written reply to a Legislative Council question on HSLS on November 5, 2008, following the Government's repositioned subsidised housing policy in 2002, our housing policy objectives are to focus resources on the provision of public rental housing for low income families who cannot afford private housing, withdraw from playing the role of a property developer, cease the production and sale of subsidised sale flats, and minimise intervening in the market. Encouraging the public to purchase homes is no longer an objective of the Government's housing policy. We consider that a decision on purchasing a property should be a matter of personal choice and affordability. The Government should not take up the role of a lending institution and influence an individual's decision on home ownership which should be premised on affordability.
Ends/Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Issued at HKT 13:13
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