The Extent of the Home Ownership Scheme has Improved Housing Affordability for Low- to Middle-Income Families in Hong Kong Since 2000

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_89How to use a DOI?

Keywords

housing affordability; Home Ownership Scheme; Hong Kong; subsidized housing; social mobility; public policy

Abstract

This literature review critically synthesizes the effectiveness of the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) in improving housing affordability for low- to middle-income families in Hong Kong since 2000. Drawing on a comparative analysis of academic literature, the review categorizes current research into three schools: economic impact, socioeconomic outcomes, and access and equity. While HOS has encouraged homeownership for the “sandwich class” and contributed to housing market stability, its long-term effectiveness is limited by persistent supply shortages, rising resale prices, and inaccessibility for the lowest-income groups. The review highlights the scheme’s positive social consequences, such as increased life satisfaction and community cohesion, while also noting structural inequities in allocation and geographic distribution. Key gaps in the literature include the lack of longitudinal studies, intersectional analysis, and methodological transparency—largely due to limited access to official data. The study concludes by proposing policy reforms aimed at enhancing affordability, inclusivity, and data transparency, and calls for future research using mixed methods approaches to better evaluate the scheme’s real-world impact.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Pui Tung Zhong
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/11
TI  - The Extent of the Home Ownership Scheme has Improved Housing Affordability for Low- to Middle-Income Families in Hong Kong Since 2000
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 10th International Conference on Modern Management, Education and Social Sciences (MMET 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 801
EP  - 809
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_89
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_89
ID  - Zhong2025
ER  -