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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
The Hong Kong Housing Authority's (HA) Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (March 24) approved the income and asset limits for White Form (WF) applicants, and the average selling prices as well as the sales arrangements for the sale of 85 Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats in Tin Lee Court at Tai O, Lantau Island, and one rescinded flat in Tin Chung Court in Tin Shui Wai.
Application for the purchase of the flats will be invited in June and balloting is expected to be held in July. Selection of flats by successful applicants is scheduled to start from August.
The income limit for family applicants will be $44,000 per month and the asset limit will be $960,000. In line with the established practice, the income and asset limits for one-person applicants will be set at half of the limits for family applicants and will therefore be $22,000 and $480,000 respectively (see table attached).
"The income and asset limits are set based on the established methodology, after taking into account the latest property market and economic conditions," a spokesman for the HA said.
Previously named Tin Lee House in Lung Tin Estate, Tin Lee Court is a 12-storey rural housing block originally built for public rental housing (PRH) and completed in 1995. SHC endorsed in February last year conversion of the block into an HOS block for sale with a view to better utilising public housing resources. Upgrading works for the block and the associated external areas are being carried out and will be completed by end April.
"Based on the established methodology and valuation principles, in assessing the average market value of the flats, we have made reference to transactions of residential properties in the open market for comparable private and HOS developments on Lantau Island," the spokesman said.
By applying a discount of 30 per cent to the assessed market values, the prices of the 85 flats in Tin Lee Court, with saleable areas from 44.4 square metres to 45.1 square metres, range from $641,100 to $897,300. This reflects different attributes of individual flats including orientation, aspect, etc.
The selling price for the rescinded flat in Block L at Tin Chung Court, which is set according to the same pricing principle, is $1,934,300.
The SHC decided to maintain the ratio of 60:40 for quota allocation between Green Form (GF) and WF applicants and the flexibility to switch the unused quota between these two categories of applicants. Furthermore, as endorsed by the SHC earlier, the 14 affected PRH households relocated from the then PRH block through management transfer will have first priority in flat selection for the purchase of flats in Tin Lee Court. Subject to that, the order of priority for flat selection by category of applicants will be maintained with family households having priority over one-person households. A one-off fee of $200 will be charged upon application.
"The SHC also agreed, for the sale of flats under this sales exercise and in future HOS sales, to maintain the requirement that WF applicants must have lived in Hong Kong for at least seven years on or before the closing date of the application, and their stay in Hong Kong is not subject to any condition of stay (except the condition on limit of stay)," the spokesman added.
A one-year defects liability period, counted from the respective dates of assignment of individual flats, and a structural safety guarantee (SSG) of 10 years from the commencement date of the flat selection period for this sales exercise will be provided for the flats in Tin Lee Court.
As for the rescinded flat in Tin Chung Court, the same one-year defects liability period and a SSG of 20 years from the date of commencement of flat selection for the first phase of sale of Block L (i.e. July 24, 2013) will be provided.
Following endorsement by the SHC in 2012 to decline buyback requests for the remaining Surplus HOS flats and future HOS flats, owners of the flats in Tin Lee Court and the flat in Tin Chung Court may sell their flats in the open market immediately after paying the premium to HA or they may sell their flats in the HOS Secondary Market to eligible purchasers without payment of premium after two years from the date of first assignment.
The spokesman also said that requirements under the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance would be followed as far as practicable though not all of the provisions applied to the HA.
"The sales brochures, price lists and documents on sales arrangements will be made available at the HOS Sales Unit (HOSSU) in the HA Customer Service Centre (CSC) at Lok Fu for collection by the public starting seven days before commencement of the application period until the last day of the application period," the spokesman said. He added that Registers of Transactions will also be made available at the HOSSU starting from the first day of the application for the public to inspect records of the daily sales.
A photo album containing photographs of the interior of typical flat types in Tin Lee Court and the external view from Tin Lee Court will also be available for public viewing at the HOS Information Centre (HOSIC) at CSC and on the HA website. In addition, arrangements will be made for purchasers to view their selected flats before signing of the Agreement for Sale and Purchase.
During the application period, the HOSSU and the HOSIC will be open from 8am to 7pm every day (including public holidays).
Ends/Monday, March 24, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:59
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