HK needs HOS forever
經濟財政結構倘不變 居屋是本港永恆需要
文章日期:2015年3月13日

雙語社評齊齊聽

英語 (足本收聽)

普通話 (足本收聽)

【明報專訊】AS OF 5 pm yesterday (Jan 13), the Housing Authority (HA) received about 52,800 applications for new Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats. They are 58 times oversubscribed by white-form applicants, which shows precisely how much middle-class people want to buy their own homes.

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房委會首批新居屋,截至昨日下午5時,累計收到約5.28萬份申請,其中白表申請超額58倍,確切反映私樓價格狂飈之後,中產人士對置業安居的渴求。

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The HOS has served two main functions. One is to allow citizens to own their dwellings. It increases their sense of belonging to the community and thus helps maintain social stability.

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歷來居屋政策主要有兩個功能。一是讓市民擁有自置居所,增加對社區的歸屬感,凝聚成為穩定社會的力量。

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The other is to enable public rental housing (PRH) tenants to move up and thus increase PRH circulation. If a PRH tenant acquires an HOS flat, he will surrender his PRH unit, which will be allocated to a household that needs it. PRH resources can thus be efficiently employed. There is of course another function the HOS serves. It helps lighten the financial burden of public housing on the government as the proceeds from the sale of HOS flats are used to build PRH.

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居屋另一個作用,是形成上流階梯增加公屋流轉。公屋戶購買居屋之後,交回租住單位,房委會將之編配給有需要的市民,公屋資源獲良性運用;當然居屋還有一個作用,就是房委會出售居屋獲得的利潤,用以興建公屋,變相減輕了政府在公營房屋的財政負擔。

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The HOS serves social functions, meets citizens' housing needs and helps finance public housing projects. What has happened over the past three decades shows the HOS policy is one of the best ever implemented in Hong Kong. The HOS was once suspended because of a transient circumstance. The government ought to learn a lesson. It ought to try its utmost to stick to the policy and must never rashly abandon it.

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因此,居屋從社會功能到具體應對市民置業安居,或公營房屋的財政循環,過去30多年實踐證明,這是本港其中一項最佳政策,當局要汲取因為一時需要而停建居屋的教訓,日後務必要堅持居屋政策,勿再輕言廢止。

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Thanks to changes in the property market, the HOS is not as effective in boosting PRH circulation as it was. Green-form applicants make up only 4% of the total. Since not many flats will be available, though the proportion of green-form applicants is small, we believe all the flats reserved for green-form applicants will be sold. Nevertheless, the situation is very different from what it was.

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今次新居屋申請,由於樓市變化,居屋促使公屋流轉的功能,未若以往明顯。今次申請綠表只佔4%,白表佔96%,由於可供申請單位不算多,即使綠表申請比例低,相信仍可盡售分配給綠表的單位,不過,情况與過去比較差異甚大。

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Market forces are such that the government cannot do much, but there is still a lot it can do to persuade PRH tenants to buy HOS flats and thus increase PRH circulation. Because of the well-off tenants policies, many well-off tenants would rather pay higher rents than buy HOS flats and surrender their PRH units. The authorities should look at the possibility of taking steps (such as imposing stricter income declaration requirements) to discourage well-off tenants from holding onto PRH resources.

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面對市場力量,政府難有作為,但在促使公屋戶購買居屋,加速公屋流轉方面,政府應該還有空間操作。例如現在的富戶政策,還有不少富戶寧願繳交更高租金,仍然不肯購買居屋交回租住的單位,當局研究採取更多措施,強化入息申報等,迫使富戶不再霸佔公屋資源。

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It costs the HA about $700,000 to build a PRH unit and about $1 million to build an HOS flat. As it can recoup its costs when HOS flats are sold, the HOS does not add to its financial burden. But that is not the case with PRH. The HA must not only pay for the construction of PRH units but also subsidise their management and maintenance. The subsidy is now about $2,200 a PRH unit a year. It running about 750,000 PRH units, the expenditure tops $1.6 billion a year. The huge outlay causes the HA much difficulty, and it eventually comes from the public purse. Therefore, it is a way of easing its financial burden for the HA to carry out HOS projects.

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目前,房委會興建公營房屋,每個公屋單位成本約70萬元,居屋約100萬元,居屋出售後有資金回籠,對房委會財政不會構成負擔,公屋則不然,除了建築成本,每年每個單位管理和維修開支,還要補貼約2200元,現在房委會管理約75萬個公屋單位,每年補貼就超過16億元。這些龐大開支固然困擾房委會,最終還是由公帑埋單。因此,興建居屋是應對房委會財政的一條出路。

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In the next decade, 90,000 HOS flats will be built, or on average 9,000 a year. HOS flat supply will be much smaller than it was (15,000 a year). Unless the property market and the overall economy see radical changes and the government's revenues change radically, land premia, property prices and rents will remain high. This is why it will forever remain a problem that Hong Kong middle-class people have difficulty buying their own homes. The government can deal with housing-related deep-rooted contradictions if it uses the HOS properly, consistently and effectively. It ought to try harder to do so.

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未來10年共興建9萬個居屋單位,平均每年9000個,遠遠不及過去每年約供應1.5萬個居屋單位,除非房地產與整體經濟和政府財政收入有根本轉變,否則高地價、高樓價、高租金現象,將會揮之不去,則中產人士置業難就成為本港永恆的問題,職是之故,居屋在香港,也就是永恆的需要。居屋這步棋只要走對、走穩、走好,就可以解決環繞居住有關的諸多深層次矛盾,政府應該加大力度去做。

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明報社評 2015.01.15

Presented by lecturers of Hong Kong Community College, PolyU and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Raymond Ng

Lecturer, HKCC

www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/social_communication/details.php?id=140&lang=eng

焦妮娜博士

香港理工大學講師

www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/social_communication/details.php?id=108&lang=chi

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