More than 28,000 units remain unsold across 39 rent-to-own estates as the Housing Bureau researches the programme and considers possible changes or alternatives.
At a Legislative Council housing-affairs briefing on 5 October, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said the bureau had commissioned a research organisation to design a broad questionnaire. The questionnaire will gather views from public-housing residents and people in other housing categories while the authorities examine the effectiveness of the existing programme.
The units are being offered at prices reduced by 80% or 85% from the relevant original price. Ho said that, even under those terms, more than 28,000 existing tenants might not be considering buying their homes.
The findings are intended to help determine whether changes to price or programme design could make ownership more attractive. Ho said the authorities had not ruled out a future Rent-to-Own 2.0 scheme or a completely new alternative.
The Housing Bureau said it would report the findings to the Legislative Council after concrete results were available.