More than 3,600 government-subsidised flats will go on the market this year for sale to public housing tenants, under two new projects on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories.
It will be the first time the Housing Authority, Hong Kong’s main provider of public sector flats, will sell its smallest “nano-sized” flats, at 152 sq ft, under this subsidised homes scheme.
The authority said on Wednesday that two sites originally earmarked for rental homes would be converted into space for 828 subsidised flats in Chai Wan and 2,868 in Tsing Yi.
Families have been on hold for a flat for an average of more than five and a half years.
The Tsing Yi development will offer flats between 153 and 389 sq ft in two 40-storey buildings. This project will include a two-storey retail complex, an elderly care centre, childcare facility, kindergarten and support service centre for people with severe physical disabilities.
Flat sizes of 152 sq ft are the authority’s smallest sized homes, designed for one to two people. According to the authority’s guidelines, each tenant is required to have at least 75 sq ft of internal floor space in public rental housing.
Micro flats are generally those with layouts of less than 200 sq ft, according to property agency JLL. They have been on the rise in private developments in recent years as they were meant to appeal to the average buyer desperate to get a foot on the property ladder but priced out of anything with more living space.
In response to media inquiries, a Housing Authority spokesman said in a statement on Thursday that the size and design of the new flats were the same as established designs for other public rental housing projects.
“There are no grounds to suggest that other types of residential flats smaller than the standard PRH flats are introduced specifically for GSH projects,” the spokesman said.
Citing some media reports that raised concerns such small flats would not be popular among buyers, the spokesman said the Authority believed they would make “prudent decisions based on their own situation”. He added that any flats not sold in the first round could be offered on the market again at other times.
Source: Naomi NG (scmp.com)
