The increase in supply of Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme flats will not affect the waiting time for public housing.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam made the statement in a radio phone-in programme today to answer listeners’ questions on her 2017 Policy Address.
She said the scheme allows the better-off public housing tenants to buy flats and vacate their units, and those waiting for a public housing unit will also have another choice of purchasing their own flats.
Noting property prices are still high, Mrs Lam said the Government has no plan to lift property cooling measures as doing so might trigger an irrational market response.
However, for the stamp duty regime that exempts owners who buy homes for their own use within six months of selling their previous property, Mrs Lam said there is room to ease the measure by extending the exemption period to nine months.
In response to callers' concern that the non-means-tested Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme might subsidise travellers and the better-off, she said the Government has striven for balance when formulating the scheme.
The need to differentiate between the socio-economic backgrounds of commuters will incur much complexity and high administrative costs, she added.
