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South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Leeway urged for public housing applicants in Hong Kong to combat ‘lying flat'
A key member of Hong Kong's Housing Authority has suggested offering some leeway to public rental flat applicants whose incomes are slightly above the threshold to prevent people from 'lying flat' and earning less in order to qualify. Advertisement Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, chairwoman of the authority's subsidised housing committee, on Monday cited media reports as saying some families waiting for a public rental flat would quit their jobs, switch to part-time work or ask their children to remain unemployed after graduating so the household income and asset levels would remain below the threshold. 'When the waiting time for a public rental flat is relatively long, the income limit may unintentionally prompt some residents to suppress their urge to work and their aspiration for upward mobility. This will negatively impact Hong Kong's overall human resources and economic momentum,' she said at the annual special meeting of the authority, the city's major public housing provider. The average waiting time for a public rental flat stands at 5.3 years. 'We can consider whether the authority can allow applicants to exclude some genuine and reasonable one-off income as they declare their income to reduce the lying flat phenomenon,' Wong said. Advertisement But she stressed the authority should set a 'clear boundary' so that only residents in need could access public housing resources. The monthly income threshold for a household with three members is HK$25,100 (US$3,200), while that for a four-person family is HK$31,000.
South China Morning Post
16-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Cheaper private flats in Hong Kong don't erase need for subsidised housing
– the lowest demand since the programme known as the . This seeming decline in popularity, alongside the increased affordability of private housing, has led some to claim that subsidised housing is no longer needed. Hong Kong's latest ballot for the sale of second-hand subsidised housing was oversubscribed by just five timesthe lowest demand since the programme known as the White Form Secondary Market Scheme , started about a decade agoThis seeming decline in popularity, alongside the increased affordability of private housing, has led some to claim that subsidised housing is no longer needed. There has indeed been a growing overlap between Hong Kong's subsidised and private housing markets. In 2021, both markets saw first-hand transactions valued at around HK$3-5 million (US$384,250-640,430). This widened to HK$1-5 million last year, as private home prices fell by close to 30 per cent from the peak in September 2021. This suggests increasing options at the lower end of the private housing market for those eligible for public housing. On closer scrutiny, however, the options may not be as plentiful. Last year, there were only 521 first-hand transactions in the HK$1-3 million range in the private housing market – but 106,000 applications to buy subsidised housing under the Home Ownership Scheme Moreover, the more than 40 per cent of Hong Kong households earning less than HK$25,000 a month can only afford homes that cost no more than HK$3 million. For them, subsidised housing is still the primary route to home ownership. The mission of public housing to fulfil the homeowning aspirations of low-to-middle-income families remains relevant. Subsidised housing also facilitates the turnover of public rental housing. It gives renting households with improved financial conditions an opportunity to buy a home – releasing their rental flats for those in greater need. Even with the crackdown on tenancy abuse, the number of public rental flats recovered from the serving of termination notices is far surpassed by the number released by those who had moved on to buy subsidised flats – by anywhere from 47 per cent to 323 per cent in each of the last five financial years.
