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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 (November 10) approved the income and asset limits for White Form (WF) applicants, as well as the average selling prices and sales arrangements for the Sale of Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) Flats 2014.
Applications will be invited at the end of December and balloting is expected to be held in March 2015. Selection of flats by successful applicants is scheduled to start from May 2015.
The income limit for family applicants will be $46,000 per month and the asset limit will be $1,010,000. The income and assets limits for one-person applicants will be set at half of the limits for family applicants and will therefore be $23,000 and $505,000 respectively (see Table 1).
"Following the established methodology, the income and asset limits are set after taking into account the latest property market and economic conditions," a spokesman for the HA said.
This first batch of new HOS flats put up for sale comprises 2,160 flats with a saleable area of 34.5 square metres to 47.5 square metres in five developments, namely Mei Ying Court (216 flats) and Mei Pak Court (288 flats) in Sha Tin, Sheung Chui Court (962 flats) in Tsuen Wan, Ching Chun Court (465 flats) in Tsing Yi, and Wang Fu Court (229 flats) in Yuen Long.
By applying a discount of 30 per cent from the assessed market values, the prices of the flats range from the lowest at $1,873,500 in Mei Pak Court to the highest at $3,264,600 in Sheung Chui Court (see Table 2).
"In assessing the market values, we have considered sales transactions of residential properties in the open market for both private and HOS developments in the vicinity of the five respective developments up to August 2014. Due regard has also been made to the differences in age, location, environment, design, facilities, etc between the comparables and the five developments," a spokesman for the HA said.
"Based on the prices of the flats and the income limit for WF applicants, the overall affordability ratio in respect of the flats for sale under this sale exercise is 100 per cent," the spokesman continued.
The SHC also decided to maintain the ratio of 60:40 for quota allocation between Green Form (GF) and WF applicants and the flexibility to allocate any remaining quota in one category to the other for the sale.
The priority for flat selection will follow the quota allocation ratio of 3:2 between GF and WF applicants. The current order of priority for flat selection by category of applicants will also be maintained, with family households having the priority over one-person households.
As endorsed by the SHC in 2012 that the arrangements under traditional HOS should apply to future sales, the HA will continue to provide mortgage default guarantees to participating financial institutions for up to 30 years in order to assist purchasers in obtaining favourable mortgage terms.
"Purchasers therefore will be able to obtain a mortgage loan up to 95 per cent for GF applicants or 90 per cent for WF applicants of the sale price for a maximum loan repayment period of up to 25 years," the spokesman said.
Other previous arrangements applicable to the upcoming sale include resale restriction, domestic property restriction for WF applicants, and the requirement that WF applicants must have lived in Hong Kong for at least seven years on or before the closing date of application and their stay in Hong Kong must not be subject to any conditions of stay (except the condition on limit of stay).
A one-year defects liability period from the respective dates of assignment and a structural safety guarantee of 10 years from the date of building completion will also be provided for the flats. A one-off fee of $200 will be charged upon application for the new HOS flats.
"To provide an opportunity for the public to view the layout of the new HOS flats, show flats will be available at the atrium of Domain at Yau Tong for viewing seven days before the commencement of the application period," the spokesman said. Concurrently, a virtual show flat walkthrough video can be viewed on the HA/Housing Department website.
Hard copies of sales brochures and price lists will be available at the HA Customer Service Centre at Lok Fu for collection by the public seven days before commencement of the application period. Further details about application will be announced next month.
Ends/Monday, November 10, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:20
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