Thank you, President. Population ageing is one of the challenges facing Hong Kong, and the problem will only get worse. The question of how to build an elderly-friendly economy is indeed worth contemplating, so I would like to thank Dr TAN Yueheng for proposing the motion.
A healthy and stable life is always something the elderly need. Put it this way, they certainly desire to have a quality life, financial liberty, etc., so having a cosy home is the primary requirement. Hong Kong is a small place with a large population. There is no way we can rely on residential care homes for the elderly (“RCHEs”) to cope with the demand arising from the ageing population, given that each RCHE usually has 200 to 300 beds only while the land, construction and manpower costs involved are huge. Therefore, in recent years, the Government has been actively promoting ageing at home and adopted the policy objective of “ageing in place as the core, institutional care as back-up”, which serves to facilitate the elderly enjoying their twilight years in familiar environments. This direction is exactly correct.
Under this approach, elderly people may be encouraged to visit health centres to join activities during the daytime for better mental and social well-being, and then go back home to rest at night. At the same time, meal delivery service may be provided for elderly people with impaired mobility to ensure that they receive nutritionally balanced meals every day. Non-profit-making organizations and enterprises may also be encouraged to collaborate in such meal delivery service to provide a variety of tailored choices for elderly people.
The elderly care industry mainly provides various types of savings, insurance and investment schemes for the public to make early preparations for their retirement. A study in the United States has pointed out that the average life expectancy of elderly people living in elderly care communities is eight years higher than those living in other places, and their average spending on healthcare is 30% lower. The Government is implementing the “Retire 3” scheme to help retirees create their own lifelong payouts. The Government could also encourage insurance companies to develop more insurance products targeted at elderly people who spend their retirement years in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (“GBA”), so as to enhance their products’ competitiveness. For example, some insurance companies have launched GBA retirement plans for elderly people to make early preparations and plans to meet their elderly care needs at different stages of retirement life. There are some elderly care communities in GBA, Beijing and Shanghai. They are not only convenient for residents but provide “one-stop” health and wellness services for the elderly.
In his 2024 Policy Address, the Chief Executive proposed to launch a three-year pilot scheme to subsidize 1 000 elderly recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance who opt to retire in Guangdong to reside in designated RCHEs in the province, with a view to improving their living environment and quality of life. I suggest that if the scheme proves to be successful, the Government should offer more places to benefit more elderly people.
On pension finance, with half of the people in Hong Kong having their own properties, reverse mortgages can help more elderly people receive a more stable flow of payouts to protect their retirement life. The Government should step up publicity to allow more elderly people to understand the advantages of reverse mortgages and their application procedures, thus enhancing their awareness of financial management. The number of applications under the Reverse Mortgage Programme has also increased, with 889 applications recorded in the first 10 months of 2024, which is 5.6% higher than the full-year figure for 2023. Such an increase is a testament to the higher public awareness of reverse mortgages. Hopefully, the number of applications will continue to rise in the future.
I would like to use a practical scenario to give you all a better understanding of the practical benefits of reverse mortgages. At present, for a property with an appraised value of $8 million, the maximum amount of reverse mortgage is 100% of the appraised property value, and for a property with an appraised value of more than $8 million, the maximum amount is the sum of $8 million and 50% of portion exceeding $8 million, subject to a cap of $25 million on the appraised property value. Let us do some calculation with a practical scenario by assuming that a 70-year-old applicant owns properties with appraised values of $8 million and $12 million respectively, and he opts to withdraw the annuity for a term of 10 years. Calculating on the basis of an age of 70 and a term of 10 years, the applicant can withdraw $42,800 and $53,500 respectively per month. In the case of life payment term, the applicant can withdraw $26,000 and $32,500 per month respectively. These are not small amounts, and such an arrangement for retirement life is definitely an ideal one.
I so submit.