(Yicai Global) Dec. 8 -- Chinese real estate developer New World Development has launched Hong Kong's first not-for-profit housing project that is funded by a non-state-owned company with properties sold at discounts as big as 50 percent.

Residential property discounts will range from 40 percent to 50 percent, the developer that is based in the special administrative region said in a statement recently. It will build 300 homes, each of them with one to three bedrooms and an area of 28 to 51 square meters.

The innovative measures aim to resolve Hong Kong residents’ problems of unaffordable down payments and their pressures of loan repayments, an insider at the company said to Yicai Global.

The move shows that at least one of the local developers has joined the SAR administration in trying to control the region's extremely high housing prices. But others may follow suit. Besides New World, other cooperative schemes could be on the way, an insider at a large Hong Kong-based developer said to Yicai Global on Dec. 6.

Chairman Raymond Kwok Ping Leun at Sun Hung Kai Properties, which has the biggest land reserves in Hong Kong, once said that he is willing to actively cooperate with the SAR government in increasing the region's housing supply.

New World's undertaking has many special features that make it affordable for buyers. The company will donate the plot of land in the New Territories West, an area close to Shenzhen, for the project. Buyers can choose to have an "ultra-low down payment," paying as little as 5 percent of the total price.

The average price of new homes in the New Territories is about HKD200,000 (USD25,650.3) per sqm, according to public information. But the price that New World suggested is much cheaper at around HKD2.7 million (USD346,278) for a 28-sqm apartment.

Young people or families with parents aged between 25 and 45 should be prioritized when it comes to the applications, the developer proposed. It would also take the applicants' current living conditions into consideration. All applicants must be permanent residents of the SAR and first-time home buyers. Their income is capped at HKD33,000 (USD4,232) per month and their asset limit is HKD850,000.

The announcement failed to spur any major stock price movements. Shares of New World Development [HKG: 0017] were 0.5 percent up at HKD31.20 (USD4) in the afternoon.

Editor: Liao Shumin, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi