HONG KONG – Ballots were drawn on Thursday to determine the priority ranking of applications under the Hong Kong Housing Authority’s White Form Secondary Market Scheme (WSM) 2024.

Cleresa Wong, chairman of the authority’s Subsidized Housing Committee, officiated at a ballot ceremony. The results are now available on the scheme’s dedicated webpage.

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The Subsidized Housing Committee said in January that beginning from WSM 2024 the number of places on offer will be increased by 1,500 to 6,000. All of the additional places will be allocated to applicants aged below 40, while the remaining 4,500 will be ordinary quotas, the government said in a statement.

“During the application period for WSM 2024, the Housing Authority received a total of around 34,000 paper and online applications. The oversubscription rate is about five times, reflecting the persistent strong demand for subsidized sale flats," said a spokesman for the Housing Authority.

Of the applications, over 80 percent came from young applicants applying to the newly implemented WSM Youth Scheme.

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The authority estimates that approval letters will be issued to successful applicants in the third or fourth quarter of this year, paving the way for them to apply for a certificate of eligibility to purchase.

The certificates can be used by applicants to purchase a flat within the one-year validity period.