Gov’t finding it hard to allocate T1 flats

Most of the 880 affordable housing units at Alameda da Tranquilidade have already been sold but there are still almost 100 available, including 80 one-bedroom apartments

More than two months after the government began calling up families to choose affordable flats at Alameda da Tranquilidade, there are still 80 one-bedroom units to be allocated.
But the Housing Bureau (IH) president said yesterday he was confident all the remaining apartments at the northern Macau complex would be sold, as well as the 296 one-bedroom flats at the TN27 project in Taipa.
Many households have declined the chance to buy a T1 unit, even though they will drop to the bottom of the waiting list and will have just one more opportunity to get an affordable apartment in the future.
“For instance many people applied [for affordable housing] when they were still single but now they have already married and had kids,” Tam Kuong Man told journalists. But, he added, “there are still many people who are eligible and would like to by a T1 flat”.
The IH will continue sending letters to the households on the waiting list who applied for a one-bedroom unit. The majority of the 880 apartments at Alameda da Tranquilidade have already been sold but there are still almost 100 available, including eight three-bedroom flats and about 10 with two bedrooms.
Asked how many one-bedroom units will be built at Seac Pai Van, which will become Macau’s biggest public housing complex with almost 9,000 apartments, Tam said there was no decision yet. “That will depend on the applications we receive in the meantime,” he explained.
The official was speaking on the sidelines of the first allocation day for the 2,703 units at the complex in Estrada Coronel Nicolau de Mesquita, in Taipa. About 60 households waiting for affordable housing were able to choose a flat at the TN27 complex.
During the last three weeks a total of 421 people have joined group visits to the showroom units at the Taipa project, which is still under construction. The apartments should be ready by the third quarter of this year, Tam confirmed.
The minimum and maximum prices for the apartments range from as low as MOP 544,000 for a one-bedroom unit to as much as MOP 1.45 million for a three-bedroom unit.