Following is a question by the Hon Leung Man-kwong and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Housing, Mr Victor Tai, in the Legislative Council today (July 2):
 
Question:
 
     Subsidised sale housing (e.g. the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) and the Green Form Subsidized Home Ownership Scheme (GHS) of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) as well as the Subsidised Sale Flats Project of the Hong Kong Housing Society (HS)) aim at offering affordable housing to low to middle-income families, whereas HA and HS have, over the years, adopted measures such as imposing alienation restrictions and requiring premium payment to ensure the efficient use of the relevant resources for people in need to acquire their homes. Regarding the measures on alienation restrictions for subsidised sale housing, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) in respect of each subsidised sale housing scheme launched by HA and HS in each of the past 10 years, of the total number of flats resold with premium (a) paid and (b) unpaid, together with a breakdown of such flats by (i) age distribution (i.e. within five years, between five to 10 ‍years and over 10 years), and (ii) distribution of transaction prices (i.e. less than $1 million, $1 million to $2 million, $2 million to $3 ‍million, $3 million to $5 million, $5 million to $7 million, and over $7 million);
 
(2) of the current number of HOS flats which the alienation restriction period has expired and are eligible for application for resale upon payment of premium, and among them, the proportion of flats which have been resold with premium paid;
 
(3) of the current number of HOS flats which have never been resold after purchase and its percentage in the total number of HOS flats, together with a breakdown by age of the flats; and
 
(4) whether the Government will study prohibiting the resale of flats in the private market upon payment of premium in the future HOS and GHS projects, and changing to allow transactions in the secondary market of HOS flats only; if not, of the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     In response to the questions raised by the Hon Leung Man-kwong, our reply is as follows:
 
(1) The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) has all along been striving to enhance the housing ladder, with a view to helping low to middle-income families achieve home ownership through the sale of subsidised sale flats (SSF). In the next five years (i.e. from 2025/26 to 2029/30), the HA and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) will have a completion of about 56 500 SSF. We believe that the relevant flats can facilitate people in need to achieve their dream of home ownership. We also encourage members of the public to move up the suitable housing ladder according to their own ability.
 
     In addition to sale of first-hand SSF, the HA also allows SSF owners to sell their flats with premium unpaid in the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) Secondary Market, or to sell, let or otherwise assign their flats in other ways in the open market after payment of premium. The discount rate that HOS owners enjoyed in purchasing their flats will form the basis for premium assessment for removal of the alienation restrictions.
 
     On the other hand, the HKHS' SSF with premium unpaid are also subject to alienation restrictions. In 1997, the HKHS launched the Flat-For-Sale Scheme (FFSS) Secondary Market, enabling flat owners under HKHS' relevant projects to resell their flats to eligible persons with premium unpaid, subject to the conditions in the respective land lease and provided that such owners have fulfilled the designated ownership period since the date of first assignment.
 
     Since flats with payment of premium are regarded as private units, the HA and the HKHS do not hold the information on whether relevant flats have been resold, and do not maintain transaction figures of SSF for which premium has been paid in the open market.
 
     The numbers of transactions of HA's HOS and Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) flats in the HOS Secondary Market in the past 10 years are set out in Annex 1. The total number of transactions amounted to about 21 200. In fact, the HA has all along encouraged the circulation of SSF in the Secondary Market through various initiatives, including the relaxation of the mortgage arrangements for SSF in 2024 to extend the maximum mortgage default guarantee period for the secondary market from 30 years to 50 years, so that buyers can secure mortgage loans of a longer tenor. In the 12 months after the implementation of relevant arrangements, the average number of transactions of second-hand SSF was about 370 per month, which was about 60 per cent higher than the average number of transactions of about 230 per month in the 12 months before the implementation (i.e. from March 2023 to February 2024), representing a significant increase. The total number of transactions of HOS flats in the HA's Secondary Market in 2024 was 3 380, representing an increase of about 1.6 times as compared with the total number of transactions of about 1 320 in 2015.
 
     The numbers of transactions of HKHS' SSF flats without payment of premium in the FFSS Secondary Market in the past 10 years are set out by year in Annex 2.
 
(2) As at the first quarter of 2025, the HA had about 320 000 HOS flats of which the alienation period has expired, which can be resold in the open market after payment of premium. Among them, 19 per cent of the flats have been paid with premium.
 
     As at the first quarter of 2025, the HKHS had about 22 000 SSF flats of which the alienation restriction period has expired and can be resold in the open market upon payment of premium. Among them, 22 per cent of the flats have been paid with premium.

(3) As at the first quarter of 2025, the HA has about 230 000 HOS flats with premium not yet paid and have not been resold. For details of the figures categorised by building age and proportion, please see Annex 3.
 
     As at the first quarter of 2025, HKHS has about 15 000 SSF flats with premium not yet paid and have never been resold. For details of the figures categorised by building age and proportion, please see Annex 4.

(4) In order to effectively curb short-term speculative activities, the HA tightened the alienation restrictions of HOS and GSH flats in January 2022. The period where the owners can only sell at no more than the original price in the Secondary Market with premium unpaid has been lengthened from the first two years since first assignment to the first five years since first assignment; while the restriction period for sale in the open market after payment of premium has also been lengthened from the first 10 years since first assignment to the first 15 years since first assignment. All HKHS SSF developments completed in 2024 or beyond also adopt the aforementioned tightened alienation restrictions introduced by the HA in 2022.
 
     Allowing HOS and GSH flat owners to sell their flats after the restriction period can facilitate the circulation of second-hand SSF, thereby increasing SSF supply in the market. On the other hand, this measure provides opportunities for owners to move on to the private property market on the housing ladder, which is an initiative to encourage owners' upward mobility and strengthen social's mobility.

Ends/Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Issued at HKT 15:10

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