The government will launch a new round of applications tomorrow for 5,254 subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats on the Zone A land reclamation area.
The four-month application period will end on November 12.
A press conference about the new round of applications for the 5,254 units was held yesterday at a branch office of the Housing Bureau (IH) at the newly-completed second phase of the Mong Ha social housing estate – officially known as Mong Tak Building.
The new round of applications is the first one to be carried out in line with amendments to the HOS law, which took effect last year.
According to the current version of the law, the allocation of HOS flats is carried out based on a points-based system, whereas under the previous version HOS flats were allocated through a lucky draw process but with priority given to family applicants (those with senior citizens in particular) over individual applicants.
Under the previous version of the law, HOS units could be sold on the private market after the owners had owned them for a certain number of years, while according to current version, HOS unit owners can only sell their flats back to the Housing Bureau.
Last time the government accepted applications for HOS flats was in 2019 – for 3,011 units on three plots on Zone A.
The 5,254 HOS flats this time, which will be built on five plots on Zone A, comprise 242 one-bedroom units, 4,478 two-bedroom units and 534 three-bedroom units.
The government will start building 24,000 public housing units on Zone A over the next several years, so that finally 28,000 public housing units will be completed. The majority of the public housing units on Zone A will be HOS flats, with the remaining being social rental housing units.
For this round of applications, the household monthly minimum income, to be eligible to apply for an HOS flat, amounts to 12,750 patacas for a one-person household and 19,270 patacas for a two-person household, while for a household with seven members or more, the monthly income must be at least 37,300 patacas.
The household monthly maximum income, to be eligible to apply for an HOS flat, is 38,350 patacas for a one-person household and 76,690 patacas for a household with two members or more.
The maximum limit of net assets for a one-person household to be eligible to apply for an HOS flat is 1,254,900 patacas, while for a household with two members or more the limit is 2,509,800 patacas.
HOS flats are part of the government’s public housing programme which also includes social rental housing.
The government insists that its subsidised HOS flats (known in Chinese and Portuguese as “economical” housing) “are not an investment product.”
This photo taken yesterday depicts a show flat set up at the Housing Bureau’s (IH) office in Mong Ha social housing estate’s Mong Tak Building for three-bedroom subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) unit to be built on Zone A. Photo: Tony Wong
