Starter home units part of Tsuen Wan plot sale deal
The government has earmarked a residential plot in Tsuen Wan for its starter homes initiative, with the 4.9-hectare site up for tender in the first quarter of the next financial year.  To meet the housing needs of young people, Chief Executive John Lee had vowed to launch more starter-home projects in his maiden policy address. These homes are offered to first-time buyers who do not qualify for other subsidised housing, but who cannot afford private flats. Announcing the upcoming land sale programme, Development Secretary Bernadette Linn on Thursday said she could not give details on exactly how many of the nearly 2,000 units the Yau Kom Tau site is expected to provide will be used for starter homes. She added that tender conditions will be released when the land is made available.  "The tender conditions will, of course, reflect the Housing Bureau's intention regarding how the starter homes should be built, including the minimum floor area to be dedicated to the starter homes units, and also the size of the starter homes flats, the pricing, and also the eligibility criteria of the buyers," she said.  "As the Housing Bureau is now working on the conditions, they will make reference to the first pilot project of this kind on Anderson Road [that was] successfully sold. They will also give an account of their final decisions when they are ready." The plot, along with a residential site in Kennedy Town, will be put up for tender in the coming quarter.  Another residential plot in Tung Chung that can provide around 500 units, will have a tenth of its gross floor area set aside for the youth hostel scheme.  Altogether, the government plans to put 12 residential sites on the market next financial year to provide 9,120 flats, the highest since the 2019-20 period. Half of the plots are rolled over from this year's land sale programme.  Three commercial sites will also be on offer to provide some 201,730 square metres of gross floor area. Three other industrial sites, all located in Yuen Long, are expected to yield 170,000 square metres of gross floor area.