Income and asset limits for public rental housing for 2018-19
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The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA)'s Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (March 19) discussed the outcome of the review of income and asset limits for public rental housing (PRH) for 2018-19, and endorsed the income and asset limits for applicants of different household sizes with effect from April 1 (see table).
"The PRH income and asset limits are reviewed annually in accordance with the established mechanism to keep them in line with the prevailing social and economic conditions. The PRH income and asset limits for 2018-19 will increase by an overall average of 2.6 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively over those for 2017-18," a spokesman for the HA said.
"Following adjustments made according to the established methodology, the income limits for most household sizes (i.e. households with one person, two persons and four persons and above) have increased. However, the income limit for three-person households is slightly lower than the existing limit, i.e. reduced by about 1.7 per cent. With reference to the practice last year, past experience in reviewing PRH income limits and taking into account the overall situation after the review on income limits, the SHC agreed to freeze the income limit for three-person households at the existing level," the spokesman said.
Under the established mechanism, the PRH income limits are derived using a household expenditure approach, which consists of housing costs and non-housing costs, plus a contingency provision. Housing costs measure the costs of renting private accommodation comparable to PRH, and these depend on the differential unit rents of private accommodation per square metre and reference flat sizes (i.e. average space allocated to PRH applicants in the past three years). Non-housing costs are determined with reference to the results of 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 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/Monday, March 19, 2018
Issued at HKT 18:10
Issued at HKT 18:10
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