Sandwich Class Housing Scheme
The Sandwich Class Housing Scheme was a scheme from the Hong [Kong Housing Society] offering apartments to middle-income families, i.e. sandwich class, at concessionary prices during the 1990s in Hong Kong. The purchases were subject to a five-year resale restriction. The first development, Tivoli Garden, was completed in 1995, and was followed by 12 other developments. In total, more than 12,000 units were offered.
Unlike Home Ownership Scheme and Flat-for-Sale Scheme, the owners under Sandwich Class Housing Scheme must pay a land premium before they can sell their flats in the free second-hand property market.
Developments
The housing estates built under the scheme were:- Park Belvedere, Ma On Shan
- Sunshine Grove, Sha Tin
- The Pinnacle, [Hong Kong|The Pinnacle], Tseung Kwan O
- Tivoli Garden, Tsing Yi
- Hibiscus Park, Kwai Chung
- Marina Habitat, Ap Lei Chau
- Bel Air Heights, Diamond Hill
- Cascades, Ho Man Tin
- Highland [Park (Hong Kong)|Highland Park], Kwai Chung
- Cayman Rise, Kennedy Town
- Radiant Towers Tseung Kwan O
- Mountain Shore, Ma On Shan
- Serenity Place, Tseung Kwan O
- Proposed SCHC and Flat-for-Sale Scheme development in Area 103 of Tin Shui Wai
Sales
Demand for Sandwich Class Housing apartments was generally high. For example, in 1996, the Hong Kong Housing Society received 6,520 applications for the sale of a batch of 1,696 units in Radiant Towers and Marina Habitat. This level of applications was a 40% increase in comparison to those for Park Belvedere and Tivoli Gardens, in 1995 and 1994 respectively.In the case of several projects, following a Government policy to suspend the sale of the subsidized flats in September 2001, not all units were sold under the initial Sandwich Class Housing Scheme. These projects include: Marina Habitat, The Pinnacle, Highland Park and Cascades.
All units of Mountain Shore were initially sold within 9 hours in April 2002 at an average price of HK$2,900 per sq. ft.