HOUSING
Home Starter Loan Scheme
The Home Starter Loan Scheme was launched in April 1998 by the HKHS on behalf of the Government to help families to buy their own homes for the first time. About 30 000 families will benefit during the period 1998-99 to 2001-02. The scheme has been extended to cover non-elderly singletons under 60 years of age as from December 1999. Successful applicants will receive a low-interest loan of up to $600,000 or 30 per cent of the property price, whichever is lower. Up to the end of 1999, about 12 600 loans were drawn down. A quota of 6 000 loans has been set for 1999–2000, including not fewer than 500 loans for non-elderly singletons.
Mortgage Subsidy Scheme
The Mortgage Subsidy Scheme was implemented in September 1998 to promote home ownership among tenants affected by the Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme and households affected by Cottage Area clearance exercises. Under the scheme, eligible applicants buying HOS or PSPS flats are given a mortgage subsidy of up to $162,000 over a period of six years. So far, 2030 households have bought homes with this subsidy.
Replacing a proportion of subsidised home ownership flat production
with loan finance
To allow a wider choice to prospective home buyers and to achieve the target of promoting home ownership more cost-effectively, the Government has decided to embark on a partial shift in the provision of housing assistance from the conventional 'bricks and mortar' approach to the use of housing loans. Agreement was reached with the HA to reduce subsidised home ownership flat production by 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 and 6 000 units respectively in each of the four years from 2003-04 to 2006-07. The reduction programme will be reviewed and rolled forward annually. Housing loans will be provided to eligible households to replace the reduction in flat production.
Public Rental Housing
At present, about 2.2 million people or 32 per cent of the population live in public rental housing estates managed by the HA or the HKHS. It is the Government's policy to ensure that these flats are allocated only to families in genuine need. At the end of December, there were 114 500 applications on the General Waiting List for public rental housing, including 15 400 applications from single persons.
The Government has pledged to reduce the average waiting time for public rental flats from the current six years to five years by 2001, to four years by 2003 and to three years by 2005.
Rent Policy
Tenants' affordability is the key factor in considering rent levels of public rental flats. There is a statutory requirement that rents for existing estates are reviewed every three years, and that the overall Median Rent-to-Income Ratio for all estates following rent adjustment should not exceed 10 per cent. Other factors taken into consideration include estate value, inflation, rates, and maintenance and management charges. Public housing tenants pay, on average, 35 per cent of the market rent (inclusive of rates) for the flats they are living in.
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