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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority :

A total of 77,028 applications have been received for Home Ownership Scheme Phase 19C. The subscription rate is about 8 times the 10,156 flats put up for sale. Among the 77,028 applications received, 24,036 are Green Forms and 52,992 are White Forms.

The balloting held today (Wednesday) by Mr Eddy FONG Ching, Home Ownership Committee Member, is to decide the applicants' priority in flat selection.

In Phase 19C, the Housing Authority introduced a new flexible discount rate system, allowing successful applicants to choose from three discount rates equivalent to 10% above or below the base discount rate apart from the existing 50% discount on full market value at the time of price fixing. During application, the potential buyers were also asked about their preference on the discount options. Almost 50% of the applicants responded to the question, amongst which 76% chose 10% above the base discount rate (60% off), 18% chose base discount rate (50% off) and 6% chose 10% below the base discount rate (40% off).

Home Ownership courts to be sold in Phase 19C are Kam Tai Court in Ma On Shan, Tin Shing Court Phase 2 in Tin Shui Wai, Cheong Shing Court in Fanling, Wo Ming Court Phase 2 and Po Ming Court in Tseung Kwan O, Tung Shing Court in Shau Kei Wan and Hong Shui Court in Lam Tin.

According to the choice indicated in application forms, the most popular project is Kam Tai Court, with 23.53% of the total number of applications chosen as the first priority. The remaining priority preference are Tung Shing Court (17.82%), Tin Shing Court Phase 2 (13.69%), Hong Shui Court (13.5%), Wo Ming Court Phase 2 (9.59%), Cheong Shing Court (9.32%) and Po Ming Court (5.72%), 6.84% of the applicants did not indicate their preference.

Also present at the ballot today is Mr. CHENG Yao-kong, Assistant Director/Applications & Home Ownership.

Priority list of Green Form and White Form application numbers, produced by computer later today, will be posted at the Home Ownership Centre in Lok Fu Shopping Centre, Tin Shui Wai Home Ownership Scheme Information Centre, all public housing estate offices, District Offices and Housing Information Centres tomorrow (Thursday).

END/Wednesday, May 6, 1998

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