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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA)'s Subsidised Housing Committee today (March 17) discussed the outcome of the review of income and asset limits for public rental housing (PRH) for 2015/16, and endorsed the income and asset limits for different household sizes with effect from April 1. (See table attached)
"The PRH income and asset limits are reviewed annually in accordance with the established mechanism to keep them in line with prevailing socio-economic circumstances. Overall, the PRH income and asset limits for 2015/16 will increase by an average of 5.8 per cent and 7.0 per cent respectively over those for 2014/15. Taking four-person households as an example, the monthly income limit will increase from $23,910 to $25,250 and the asset limit will increase from $455,000 to $487,000," a spokesman for the HA said.
Under the established mechanism, the PRH income limits are derived using a household expenditure approach, which consists of housing cost and non-housing cost, plus a contingency provision. Housing cost measures the cost of renting private accommodation comparable to PRH. This depends on the differential unit rents of private accommodation and reference flat sizes (i.e. average space allocated to PRH applicants in the past three years). Non-housing cost is determined with reference to the latest Household Expenditure Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), with adjustments made according to the latest movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)(A) (excluding housing costs), or the change in the nominal wage index obtained through the Labour Earnings Survey conducted by the C&SD, whichever is higher. As regards the PRH asset limits, they are adjusted with reference to movements in CPI(A) over the year.
Ends/Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:49
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