Richard Wong

The View | Singapore’s public housing owners have one major edge over Hong Kong’s. Can Carrie Lam turn this around?

Richard Wong says that the chief executive has earned some comparisons to Singapore’s public housing scheme for her proposed reforms, but one key improvement is missing and should be made – to give Hong Kong home owners better access to the transfer value of the flat

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam meets the media before an Executive Council meeting in Tamar. Lam has made subsidised public home ownership central to her agenda to addressing housing. Photo: Sam Tsang

Richard Wong

Published: 6:02am, 25 Jul 2018Updated: 10:05am, 19 Dec 2019

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has made home ownership, particularly subsidised public home ownership, the centrepiece of her government’s public housing policy. This is very wise. She has carried it forward by proposing a Starter Homes Scheme, regularising the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Pilot Scheme (GSH), and increasing the discount on Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) sale flats from the present 30 per cent to 48 per cent off the market prices of private housing flats.

There was no mention of reviving the Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS) to sell public rental housing flats, despite calls from some quarters. Still, many pundits surmise that her policies represent a significant shift towards Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HDB) model.

HDB flats are sold at a discount to citizens, which are adjusted for affordability as economic conditions change. After a period of restriction, during which the flat cannot be sold, the owner can sell the flat on the open market at a market price to a citizen or permanent resident who does not already own a flat. Leasing out the flat is also permitted. Any appreciation in value accrues entirely to the owner.

This means the owner of an HDB flat buys, at a discount, 100 per cent of the user right, leasing right and transfer right to the flat.

In Singapore, the owner of an HDB flat buys, at a discount, 100 per cent of the user right, leasing right and transfer right to the flat. Photo: Reuters

In Hong Kong, by contrast, the buyers of HOS, TPS and GSH flats effectively receive only the user right to their flat.