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The following is issued on behalf of Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority (HA) will extend the mortgage default guarantee period for Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats under the Secondary Market Scheme (SMS) to 30 years.
"This new initiative endorsed by the HA's Subsidised Housing Committee today (October 15) is another measure to revitalize the HOS Secondary Market," a spokesman for the HA said.
"It will further facilitate prospective purchasers in negotiating with financial institutions for more favourable terms, which will in turn encourage the turnover of flats in the HOS market," the spokesman said.
In order to assist purchasers of HOS flats in obtaining favourable mortgage finance, the HA has been providing mortgage default guarantee to participating financial institutions for up to 25 years counting from the date of the first assignment of individual flats.
The extension will take effect in December this year to cover mortgages for HOS flats transacted under SMS drawn from then onwards and will also apply to subsequent sale of the remaining 800 surplus HOS flats.
The spokesman also reminded prospective purchasers of HOS flats under the SMS that before they decide to purchase the flats, they should consider carefully their own affordability including long-term repayment ability and impact of mortgage interest rate adjustment on their repayment ability.
Ends/Friday, October 15, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:41
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