HOUSING
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Sandwich Class Housing Scheme
The Sandwich Class Housing Scheme was introduced in 1993 to help families with monthly incomes of between $25,001 and $50,000 to buy their own home. It com- prises an interim loan scheme and a main scheme.
The loan scheme, with a grant of $2 billion from public funds, is designed to assist 4 000 families to purchase their own home in the private sector. Successful applicants can borrow up to 25 per cent of the flat price or $550,000, whichever is less, to buy a property that is not older than 20 years and worth not more than $3.3 million. The loan is repaid, in 120 equal instalments starting from the fourth year after the loan is made. Interest is charged at 2 per cent a year. By the end of 1995, 2 650 loans with a total value of $1.2 billion had been granted.
The main scheme involves the granting of land on concessionary terms to the Housing Society. Sixteen sites with a total flat production capacity of about 20 000 have been earmarked for this purpose. The scheme was expanded in October to produce a total of 30 000 flats by 2003.
To date, production is well on schedule. The first 1 024 flats at Tsing Yi were put on the market in December 1994 at a discount of over 30 per cent to market value and 1 015 flats were sold. The flats were ready for occupation in December. Another 882 flats at Ma On Shan were offered for pre-sale in December.
Home Purchase Loan Scheme
The Home Purchase Loan Scheme was introduced in 1988 to help lower and middle- income families to buy flats in the private sector. In 1995, 2 430 families benefited from the scheme. Eligible applicants are offered an interest-free loan, repayable over the same period as the bank mortgage on the property, up to a maximum of 20 years. Alternatively, they may opt for a monthly subsidy for 48 months, which need not be repaid.
As an incentive to attract more sitting public housing tenants to buy property and give up their rental flats for reallocation, the scheme was enhanced in 1995 with a considerable increase in the amount of interest-free loan and non-repayable monthly subsidy granted to eligible applicants. The loan and the monthly subsidy given to public housing tenants were $600,000 and $5,100 respectively, while that for private sector applicants were $400,000 and $3,400 respectively. This offer will last for the financial years 1995-96 and 1996–97. So far, 10 951 loans and 561 subsidies have been granted. As a result, 6 263 public housing units have been recovered.
Construction
The Housing Authority has about 107 100 flats under construction. In 1995, some 31 900 flats were completed, of which 45 per cent were for sale. Construction during the year was characterised by redevelopment of older housing estates in urban areas coupled with the exploitation of small infill sites, using a new range of non-noise- sensitive building designs.
Construction activity within the New Towns was primarily concentrated in Tin Shui Wai, Tseung Kwan O and Tung Chung. In Tin Shui Wai, 17 740 flats for 59 160 people will be completed within the next three years, while in Tseung Kwan O an additional 51 hectares are being developed to provide homes for 86 000 persons. In Tung Chung, work has started on building public housing for 15 000 people. This