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A potential buyer checks out what the new blocks in Sha Tin and Tin Shui Wai will look like. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Prices set for new Home Ownership Scheme flats in Hong Kong

Buyers will pay between HK$1.49 million and HK$3.27 million for homes in Sha Tin and Tin Shui Wai, but housing expert says prices could come down

Prices of the latest batch of subsidised flats in Sha Tin and Tin Shui Wai have been announced, with the cheapest set at HK$1.49 million.

But a member of the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee said prices of the 2,657 Home Ownership Scheme flats could become cheaper as housing prices had declined in the past few months.

According to the price list announced online by the Housing Authority, people will be able to buy a flat in Ka Shun Court in Sha Tin for between HK$2.44 million and HK$3.27 million. The sizes of the 248 flats on offer range from 445 to 449 sq ft.

Flats in Ping Yan Court in Tin Shui Wai cost from HK$1.49 million to HK$3.16 million. A total of 2,409 flat are available with sizes ranging from 376 to 573 sq ft.

Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee member Wong Kwun said there should be scope to cut prices further as Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats were usually set at 70 per cent of the market price.

“The current price list was set in September last year, but it was announced only in mid July ... With the drop in prices, the government could reduce prices according to the market,” Wong said.

As flats released this time were not the last batch of new HOS flats and a home ownership scheme for green form applicants – people living in public rental flats – would be launched later this year, Wong expected as many as 70 per cent of green form holders would give up their applications.

But Stanley Wong Yuen-fai, chairman of the Housing Authority’s subsidised housing committee, said housing prices had not changed much in the first half.

“Property prices in the first quarter dropped slightly, but bounced back slightly in the second quarter. No big change was observed in prices in the first half of the year,” he said.

Eligible applicants will be able to choose their flats from the coming Monday. Buyers are expected to move into the two developments in 2018 at the earliest.

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