Mortgage Plan Extended

The Housing Authority today extended for another six months the time-limited arrangement allowing banks and financial institutions to offer a mortgage principal moratorium plan to Subsidised Sale Flats Scheme (SSFS) mortgagors.

Following the extension, the principal moratorium period should commence by June 30 next year.

Under the current time-limited arrangement, banks and financial institutions participating in the provision of mortgage loans for the SSFS may offer a mortgage principal moratorium plan to the scheme’s flat mortgagors, allowing them to defer repayment of the principal for a maximum period of 12 months.

The repayment period of the mortgage loan may also be extended correspondingly by a maximum of 12 months.

The authority said it has received requests from some participating financial institutions through the Hong Kong Association of Banks to extend the time-limited arrangement for six months to June 30 next year to support SSFS flat mortgagors with short-term liquidity problems to tide over the difficult times arising from the COVID-19 epidemic.

In light of the ongoing impact of the epidemic on the economy, to help relieve SSFS flat mortgagors' cash flow problems and reduce the possibility of mortgage default, the authority agreed to extend the time-limited arrangement.

The moratorium plan is applicable to the Home Ownership Scheme, the Private Sector Participation Scheme, the Buy or Rent Option Scheme, the Tenants Purchase Scheme and the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme in the primary market and under the Secondary Market Scheme.