ENG-2016 — Page 229

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Housing

about 4,500 to existing tenants for various types of transfers. The rest were allocated to other miscellaneous categories such as applicants for Compassionate Rehousing and families who were affected by the government's clearance actions, fire, natural disasters and emergencies.

General applicants are allocated PRH according to the order of their registrations and choice of districts. For non-elderly one-person applicants, priority under the QPS is determined by age, waiting time and whether the person has been residing in PRH. All applicants must meet the Housing Authority's residence requirements and pass detailed income and asset vetting and the Domestic Property Test.

Eligible applicants can be allocated PRH earlier by opting for less popular flats under an Express Flat Allocation Scheme. About 980 households benefited from this scheme in 2016.

Home Ownership

Subsidised sale flats

In response to the home ownership aspirations of low- to middle-income families, the government provides subsidised sale flats as part of its housing policy. The second batch of 2,657 new HOS flats were all sold in a pre-sale launched in February and are scheduled for completion in 2018.

In 2016, the Housing Society sold all 1,020 units in a pre-sale of its second batch of subsidised sale flats, after selling the first batch of 988 flats in 2012. The society will offer another 600 flats for pre-sale in 2017.

The Housing Authority allowed 2,500 eligible White Form applicants to buy flats in the secondary market of the Housing Authority's HOS or the Housing Society's Flat-For-Sale Scheme without paying the premium, under a new round of an interim scheme rolled out in August 2015. Some 43,900 applications were received. Letters of nomination were issued to some 1,520 successful White Form applicants by end-December 2016. After the scheme ends in the first half of 2017, the Housing Authority will conduct a comprehensive review of the scheme to decide on its future.

Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Pilot Scheme

In his 2015 Policy Address, the Chief Executive proposed that the Housing Authority identify flats among its PRH developments under construction for sale to Green Form applicants' in the form of a pilot scheme, with prices set at a lower level than those of HOS flats. The Housing Authority selected an 857-unit PRH project at San Po Kong for conversion to the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Pilot Scheme (GSH) in May 2015 and launched the pre-sale in October 2016. About 16,200 applications were received. The flats are expected to be ready for occupation in mid-2017. After the San Po Kong project, the Housing Authority will review the scheme to decide whether to proceed with other GSH projects.

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White Form applicants are households who are not PRH tenants and meet the eligibility criteria for buying subsidised sale flats.

Green Form applicants are mainly PRH tenants and PRH applicants who have passed the detailed eligibility vetting.

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