Income and asset limits for public rental housing(PRH) applicants will be moderately adjusted for 2004/05 in accordance with the established mechanism. The adjustments aims to ensure rational allocation of limited housing resources to those in genuine need.

In its annual review of the Waiting List(WL) income and asset limits today(11 March 2004), the Housing Authority's Subsidized Housing Committee(SHC) noted that the adjustments reflect essentially the downward movements of the two key variables determining the limits - the Consumers Price Index and the rental levels in the private market - since the last review in March 2003.

The income and asset limits, to be effective on 1 April 2004, will be lowered by an average of 4.3% and 8.9% respectively.  For 4-person households, the income limit will go down from the current $14,600 to $14,000 whereas the asset limit from $380,000 to $350,000(see Table).

"The new limits will only apply to new applicants and those registered but have not gone through the vetting stage by 31 March 2004 so as to minimize the adverse impact on the existing applicants," the Chairman of the SHC, Mr Ng Shui-lai explained.

"Applicants who fail in the income/asset test but subsequently become qualified under the prevailing eligibility rules as a result of income/asset limits revisions or substantiated changes in family circumstances could reinstate their original PRH applications within two years," added Mr Ng.

Mr Ng pointed out that despite the adjustments, some 123 100 households or 35.2% of the non-owner occupier households living in private flats in HK would remain eligible for PRH, higher than the average of 114 500 households or 33.4% during the 10-year period from 1993/94 to 2002/03.

The WL income limits are derived under a household expenditure approach. Limits for different household sizes are calculated by adding the respective sums of housing and non-housing expenditures, plus a 5 % contingency provision.

At today's meeting, members noted the spillover effect brought about by the conversion of a large number of surplus Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats into rental use. The average "reference" flat sizes, upon which the assessment of housing expenditure is based, are likely to swell in the coming few years. The housing expenditure so calculated would be artificially inflated as a result.

In response to the motion passed by the Legislative Council Panel on Housing at its meeting on 8 March 2004, the SHC agreed to re-visit the formula for deriving the WL income and asset limits before next year's review.

Waiting List Income and Asset Limits for 2004/05

Figures in (  ) denotes the effective income limits should a household be contributing 5% of its income under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme as required by the law.


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