HA approves measures to encourage upward mobility through housing ladder
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA)'s Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (November 6) approved a series of measures that encourage upward mobility through the housing ladder, including increasing the quota and enhancing the arrangements of the White Form Secondary Market Scheme (WSM), and relaxing the alienation restriction period of new subsidised sale flats (SSF) that will be put up for sale in the open market.
Starting from the next WSM exercise, the HA will further increase the quota by 1 000 to 7 000. Half of the additional quotas will be allocated to young families and one-person applicants aged below 40 opting to join the Youth Scheme (WSM), while the remaining 500 are ordinary quotas.
"In response to keen market demand for the WSM quota, the HA substantially increased the quota by 1 500 and all of them were allocated to young families and one-person applicants aged below 40 under WSM 2024, which eventually was over-subscribed by about five times. More than 80 per cent of the applications received came from young applicants opting to join the Youth Scheme (WSM). This reflected that the scheme was well received by young people," a spokesman for HA said.
Regarding the operational arrangements of the WSM, the SHC noted that, in recent WSM exercises, an average of about 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the applicants awarded with a quota did not apply for the Certificate of Eligibility to Purchase (CEP) within a specified period for purchasing SSF with premium unpaid in the secondary market.
To avoid wastage of quotas due to personal preferences, the SHC endorsed that starting from the next WSM exercise, the number of Approval Letters to be issued by the HA will be suitably higher than the quota set under the WSM exercise, ensuring that the quota for flat purchases can be fully utilised. The HA will determine the exact percentage of the over-issuance having regard to relevant factors, and details will be announced prior to each application period.
The SHC also approved, starting from the WSM 2024, any unused family quotas will be allocated to one-person applicants, which is consistent with the practice adopted for the primary SSF sale exercise. Moreover, to ensure full utilisation of WSM 2024 quotas, depending on the situation of approved applicants applying for the CEPs, the HA will issue an additional batch of Approval Letters according to the ballot order to cover unused quotas.
The HA will also increase the ratio of the quota allocation between Green Form and White Form from 40:60 to 50:50 starting from the next Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) sale exercise, and at the same time increase the ratio of larger units in HOS and Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) projects to encourage more Public Rental Housing tenants to purchase SSF.
The HA tightened the alienation restrictions of HOS and GSH flats in 2022 to prevent short-term speculative activities. The restriction period for sale in the open market upon payment of premiums was lengthened from the first 10 years to the first 15 years since the date of first assignment. Taking into account the latest market development that the transactions of HOS and GSH flats in the open market have been declining, and to encourage upward mobility through the housing ladder, the SHC endorsed today to shorten the alienation restriction period of new SSF that will be put up for sale in the open market from 15 years to 10 years from the date of the first assignment, starting from the next HOS and GSH sale exercises.
Safeguarding the basic housing needs of Hong Kong people is the top priority of the Government. With the supply of public housing continuously increasing, the Government is also committed to enriching the housing ladder to facilitate upward mobility for the public. Last year's Policy Address introduced various measures to help members of public, especially young people, achieve home ownership and rekindle their hopes. In the 2025 Policy Address, the Chief Executive further announced a series of initiatives to assist people from different social strata in attaining comfortable and fulfilling lives.
Source: AI-found images
