📋 Tender Overview
Following is a question by the Hon Tam Chunkwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing Ms Winnie Ho in the Legislative Council today March 18
Question
It has been reported that the Government has identified sufficient land for construction of public rental housing PRH units to meet the housing demand in the coming decade There are views that it is now an opportune time for relaunching the Tenants Purchase Scheme TPS and the Government has also indicated its plans to conduct the related studies this year In this connection will the Government inform this Council
1 of the percentage of sold flats in the number of flats available for sale in the 39 TPS estates as of December 2025 whether the Government will conduct surveys to understand the intention of PRH tenants not covered by TPS to purchase the flats they are currently living in if so of the details if not the reasons for that
2 of the specific scope of study and timetable for the study of the relaunch of TPS to be conducted by the Government
3 whether the Government will explore the possibility of including other housing estates in TPS if so of the details eg the types of housing estates to be given priority consideration if not the reasons for that
4 whether the Government will introduce specific measures to step up management and maintenance efforts in the TPS estates so as to enhance the appeal of TPS flats for PRH tenants and
5 given that the BuyorRent Option BRO has been implemented by the Hong Kong Housing Authority before and Yung Shing Court in Fanling is an estate under BRO whether the Government will review the relaunch of BRO as well with a view to enabling residents to purchase housing units through BRO
Reply
President
The Tenants Purchase Scheme TPS was first introduced by the Hong Kong Housing Authority HA in 1998 to allow the sitting tenants of public rental housing PRH to purchase their flats at extremely low prices 12 per cent to 21 per cent of the original price so as to achieve home ownership Following a comprehensive review of the housing policy by the Government in 2002 the HA then decided not to roll out new TPS estates after the sale of TPS Phase 6B in August 2005 While sitting tenants in the 39 TPS estates can still opt to purchase their flats the HA also puts up recovered TPS flats for sale in the Home Ownership Scheme HOS and Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme GSH sale exercises to eligible Green Form GF applicants
In response to the question raised by the Hon Tam Chunkwok our reply is as follows
1 to 3 As of endDecember 2025 the total number of TPS flats was around 184 440 of which 155 760 ie 84 per cent had been sold However about 30 000 TPS flats ie 16 per cent remained unsold As of endDecember 2025 the relevant flats were priced with a discount of approximately 78 per cent to 83 per cent off the assessed market value Please refer to the Annex for details regarding the percentage of units sold in the 39 TPS estates
The HA has regularised the sale of recovered TPS flats to GF applicants through HOS or GSH sale exercises since 2023 In each sale exercise we offer a reasonable number of recovered TPS flats for sale Since the regularisation about 300 to 400 recovered TPS flats have been put up for sale in each sale exercise A new batch of recovered TPS flats will be put up for sale in GSH 2025 sale exercise with the number of flats to be announced before flat selection in Q3 2026
According to the HAs Public Housing Recurrent Survey 2025 approximately 54 per cent of tenants in TPS estates indicated that they would not consider purchasing the flat where they currently reside while another 34 per cent replied they had yet to decide or did not know Even though the TPS flat they currently reside in is offered for sale at 17 per cent to 22 per cent of the assessed market value a majority of the tenants 51 per cent who would not consider purchasing their flat expressed difficulties in affording monthly mortgage repayments or having an unstable income Furthermore a certain number of tenants stated that they would not consider purchasing a TPS flat due to their advanced age 39 per cent or the relatively old building age 20 per cent Note
The HA recognises that there are different views across society on whether TPS should be reintroduced Even among those who support relaunching TPS there are differing views on the arrangements such as the pricing the maintenance and management responsibilities the selection of suitable estates etc In this regard the HA will launch a study this year to extensively collect concrete views from PRH tenants and stakeholders from various sectors The study will cover topics including whether the requisites of relaunching TPS are currently in place how estates should be selected if TPS is relaunched flat sale prices as well as the management and maintenance responsibilities etc The study will better gauge PRH tenants preference on whether to purchase their current flats and also the views of other stakeholders in society The HA will carefully consider whether to relaunch the TPS thereby ensuring the proper use of public housing resources
4 In terms of management and maintenance TPS estates are no different from general private properties In accordance with the Building Management Ordinance Cap 344 BMO the Government Lease and the Deed of Mutual Covenant DMC the Owners Corporations OCs of TPS estates are responsible for the daily management maintenance and financial arrangements of the estates As the owner of the unsold flats in TPS estates the HA has been actively participating in the work of the OCs Management Committees MCs and continuously optimising its support for TPS estates in five major areas with a view to enhancing the attractiveness of the flats to PRH tenants
i Actively exercise title and voting rights The HA representatives exercise their voting rights as owners at general meetings on major issues inc
