HK: Subsidized flat mortgage rules to be eased

The Housing Authority Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) has announced the relaxation of mortgage arrangements for subsidised sale flats (SSFs) by extending the maximum mortgage default guarantee period and mortgage repayment period.

Regarding SSFs sold on the secondary market, the maximum mortgage default guarantee period will be extended to 50 years, counting from the date of the first assignment of individual properties. This will cover new Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats, Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) flats and Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) flats.

Meanwhile, the maximum mortgage repayment period for such flats sold on the secondary market will be extended from 25 years to 30 years.

The relaxation will take effect on March 1, 2024.

The authority said that with the extension of the maximum mortgage default guarantee period to 50 years for SSFs sold on the secondary market, the number of flats with a residual guarantee period of more than 10 years will increase substantially from about 14% to about 98% for HOS and GSH flats, and from about 24% to 100% for TPS flats.

Together with the extension of the maximum mortgage repayment period, the new arrangement should help SSF purchasers secure mortgage loans of a longer tenor and facilitate the circulation of SSFs on the secondary market, the authority added.

For SSFs sold on the primary market, the maximum mortgage default guarantee period will be extended from 25 years to 30 years for TPS flats.

The maximum mortgage repayment period will be extended to 30 years for HOS, GSH projects and TPS flats sold on the primary market.

The relaxations on SSFs sold on the primary market will start from January 1, 2024.