Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is a question by the Hon Tam Chun-kwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, in the Legislative Council today (March 18):
Question:
It has been reported that the Government has identified sufficient land for construction of public rental housing (PRH) units to meet the housing demand in the coming decade. There are views that it is now an opportune time for re-launching the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS), and the Government has also indicated its plans to conduct the related studies this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
Reply:
President,
The Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) was first introduced by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) in 1998 to allow the sitting tenants of public rental housing (PRH) to purchase their flats at extremely low prices (12 per cent to 21 per cent of the original price) so as to achieve home ownership. Following a comprehensive review of the housing policy by the Government in 2002, the HA then decided not to roll out new TPS estates after the sale of TPS Phase 6B in August 2005. While sitting tenants in the 39 TPS estates can still opt to purchase their flats, the HA also puts up recovered TPS flats for sale in the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) and Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) sale exercises to eligible Green Form (GF) applicants.
In fact, under the prevailing mechanism, PRH applicants who have passed the detailed vetting may choose to apply for a Green Form Certificate (GFC) to purchase various types of subsidised sale flats (SSF) of HA, including HOS, GSH and recovered TPS flats. In recent years, the supply of SSF for sale has increased significantly. In the next five-year period (2026/27 to 2030/31), the supply of HOS flats is expected to reach nearly 59 000, representing a significant increase of nearly 50 per cent compared to the first five-year period when the current-term Government took office (2022/23 to 2026/27). The HA has also introduced various measures to assist PRH tenants and GFC holders in home purchase, including adjusting the ratio of GF and White Form from 40:60 to 50:50 starting from “HOS 2025”. It is believed that these measures will help parties concerned achieve their home ownership aspirations.
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