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LAND AND HOUSING
properties in the past few years. To counteract the lack of interest by purchasers, there are now indications that real estate generally is taking on a new trend. More flats are available to rent instead of being for sale only, and special inducements are being offered
to attract tenants.
The Hong Kong Building and Loan Agency Limited, set up in 1964 by the government in conjunction with the Commonwealth Development Corporation and four of the leading banks in the Colony, began operations in August. The Agency's object is to make mortgage finance available at reasonable rates on a long-term basis to prospective owner-occupiers of new flats in the middle- income group. By the end of the year 33 blocks containing 2,767 flats had been approved by the Agency for loan purposes. In all, 101 applications for loans totalling $3.49 million had been received, and 93 applications had been approved for a total of $3.21 million. Apart from government housing programmes the Hong Kong Housing Authority, a statutory body created in 1954, provides the largest housing programme for people in need of low-cost housing. The Authority consists of all members of the Urban Council, ex officio, and certain other members appointed by the Governor. The ordinance constituting the Authority gives it wide powers relating to housing. It plans, constructs and manages its own estates, which are designed for those with family incomes ranging from $400 to $900 a month. Under this programme the Authority had housed 132,561 people in 22,086 flats in seven completed estates by the end of the year. In a new estate at Pok Fu Lam on Hong Kong Island, and in extensions to existing estates at Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan, 7,898 flats to house a further 54,192 people are being built. The estate at Pok Fu Lam is the largest project so far undertaken by the Authority, covering an area of just over 24 acres. It will accommodate 51,392 people in 7,466 flats at a cost of $89,260,000. Four schools, kindergartens, a town centre with 16 shops and a market, medical and dental clinics, a post office, a public library, party rooms and other amenities are included. During the year approval was given for a new estate at Ping Shek, next to the existing estate at Choi Hung, and the site for this will become available in 1966.
The Authority's schemes already approved will provide housing for a total of 225,591 people in 35,366 flats at a capital cost of