Harbour view flats up for public rent
Flats in a Home Ownership Scheme project with harbour views are among more than 8,000 that will be turned into low-rent public housing, it was announced yesterday.
The Housing Authority identified six projects for transfer to rental units to reduce surplus stock after the Government imposed a 10-month freeze on sales to help the property market.
Ricky Lin Tat-fai, sales manager of Midland Realty, said all south-facing flats above the 25th floor at Tsz On Court Phase 2, in Tsz Wan Shan, Kowloon, had a view of Victoria Harbour. The phase has 2,000 flats.
They had a potential market value of up to $2,400 per square foot, Mr Lin said.
The flats are likely to be rented at about $7 per square foot, 10 per cent more than the highest rent for public housing in urban areas.
The other five projects are located in extended urban areas or in the New Territories. They are Kwai Ping Court in Kwai Fong; Kwai Chung, Fung Sui Court in Sha Tin; Grandeur Terrace in Tin Shui Wai; Kwai Lok Temporary Housing Area in Kwai Chung, and Tsing On Temporary Housing Area in Tsing Yi. The six estates, totalling 8,396 flats, are due to be completed by 2003.
Legislator Eric Li Ka-cheung said they were not high-quality flats and would not do much to ease competition in the private market, but would boost confidence by reducing the overall flat supply.
Mr Li belongs to the Breakfast Group of non-affiliated legislators that advocates scrapping the Home Ownership Scheme.
The authority will pay $3 billion to buy back 5,370 flats in three projects in Tin Shui Wai, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi, built by private developers under the Private Sector Participation Scheme. It would have cost $2.4 billion if the authority had developed them itself.
