Public tenants banned from buying their own units

More than 150,000 applications were on the list and the administration had no plan to re-launch the tenants purchase scheme.

According to a release, the Government has no plan to relaunch a scheme to allow public rental tenants to buy their units, Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng told lawmakers today.

In response to a legislator's query, she said public rental housing flats sold to tenants could never be re-allocated, affecting the turnover and supply of such flats and undermining the ability to maintain the average waiting time for general applicants at around three years.

She said more than 150,000 applications were on the list and the administration had no plan to re-launch the tenants purchase scheme at this stage.

Out of the total of 183,568 flats in 39 estates under the scheme, 118,978 flats were sold as at the end of June 2011, representing 65% of the total number of flats available for sale.

The scheme was introduced in 1998 to enable public rental housing tenants to buy the flats at a discounted price. It was ceased in 2002 to focus on providing flats to low-income families who could not afford private rental accommodation.