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F
XCC(77)8
14 -
(a) that legislation providing for the establishment of
the mortgage bank be drafted but should not be brought into operation until required; and
(b) that the Working Party should be authorised to
undertake further negotiations with the two banks, other commercial banks and other financial institu- tions, with a view to arranging adequate amount of mortgage finance on suitable terms.
An Experimental Joint Venture Scheme
36
The Working Party's Terms of Reference require it to investi- gate the feasibility of entering into joint ventures with real estate deve- lopers. To this end the Working Party appointed a working group to undertake a feasibility study and its findings and recommendations, which the Working Party has accepted, are contained in a report at Annex F.
37
In essence, the Working Party wishes to establish, through an experiment, the extent to which real estate developers are willing and able to be associated with the promotion of home ownership, by building suitable flats (suitable in terms of size, standard of finishes and price) on sites provided by the Government so that, if the Home Ownership Scheme should create a demand in excess of the 30,000 flats and a deci- sion is taken to meet the excess demand, the Government could tap the resources of both the Housing Authority and those of the real estate industry.
38
To carry out this experiment the Working Party proposes to refine the tender procedure outlined in paragraph 16 to 18 of Annex F and seeks a direction that the experiment should proceed on three sites (none of which has been earmarked for development by the Housing Authority).
C.S. 166
Public Relations
39
!
When moving the Resolution on the establishment of the Home Ownership Fund on 5th January 1977, the Financial Secretary said that he hoped he would be able to make a definitive statement in the forth- coming Budget Speech (2nd March) on whether suitable mortgage facilities could be arranged. This would amount, in effect, to a definitive state- ment on whether or not the Government would implement the Home Ownership Scheme and is certain, therefore, to excite wide public interest.
CONFIDENTIAL #