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HONG KONG : The Hong Kong government is taking more measures tackle its sizzling property sector.
It is releasing all of its unsold public housing units to eligible buyers - amounting to more than 4,300 units.
This will increase the supply of small- and medium-sized flats for the next few months.
Housing Secretary Eva Cheng said the move is to help people in need to buy flats, rather than curb prices.
If your household income does not exceed HK$39,000 or US$5,000 a month, you would qualify to buy apartments at up to a 23 per cent discount. This would put average prices at around HK$3,000-HK$3,700 per square foot.
The move is the latest after mounting public concerns about an overheating property market, and complaints that home prices were getting out of reach.
Because of the relatively low supply into the market, analysts said they expect to see little or no impact on private home prices.
In fact, most are expecting Hong Kong home prices to rise further this year, after a near-30 per cent rise in 2009, thanks to an influx of funds, particularly from mainland China, and ultra-low interest rates.
At the same time, the government has also ruled out a relaunch of the Home Ownership Scheme - its public housing scheme.
The government has not built any new units since the scheme was scrapped back in 2002.
Calls for for the scheme to be resumed have been getting louder recently, with business leaders like HSBC chairman Vincent Cheng and New World Development chairman Henry Cheng weighing in.
Democratic legislators are also planning to bring out the issue in parliament. - CNA/ms
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