More than 500 subsidised Hong Kong homes remain unsold – economic downturn, small flat size blamed for poor reception
- Some 523 of 3,710 flats in Tsing Yi and Chai Wan found no takers even after they were offered at 51 per cent off the market price
- The unsold flats will be paired with another 4,700 homes during the launch of a new batch of homes in May next year
More than 500 new subsidised homes remained unsold after the Hong Kong Housing Authority’s offers expired on Wednesday, marking the first time such a cold response was recorded since the scheme was launched in 2016.
Gloomy economic prospects and the small size of flats are to be blamed for the poor reception to the otherwise popular scheme, according to authority members.
The authority said 523 of 3,710 flats, or 14 per cent, remained unsold in the present batch of the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH).
The scheme is offered exclusively to public housing tenants, or those likely to be allocated a public rental flat in a year. Flats in the current batch were sold at 51 per cent off the market price.
Among those unsold, 516 flats are from Ching Fu Court in Tsing Yi in the New Territories, and seven from Dip Tsui Court in Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island.
Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, chairwoman of the authority’s subsidised housing committee, said she believed the flats’ small size and the economic downturn put off buyers.
