I can't comment on the CX SO house purchase scheme, but from what I know of the CX SO rent allowance, It won't buy you much.
Propery priced are going up daily in HK, in some areas there has been a 100% increase in two years! These days, the estate agents (realators) don't even bother changing the house details in the windows. They just cross the old price out and write the higher one in.
The HK property market is a strange one. The Governemt own most of the land which is released for developement and they don't do it often. despite this, there is not a shortage of property to buy. These price hikes are being fuelled by speculation whereas in most countries, a shortage of properties to buy usually precipitates inflation in the housing market. Couple this with the fact that property depreciates here - you are unlikely to get a mortgage on a property over 30 years old, you are faced with a market very different to the one you are used to at home.
Despite these rises, the market has not yet got back up to the levels of 1997 (since then we have had the Asian economic slowdown and SARS) it's probably about 75% in most parts of HK. This of course means there have been some spectacular drops in this volatile market. I know people who saw their house value fall by 70%. Yes, you read it right - 70%! If you paid a million US for your house, you proabably got no sleep for several years. Another crisis such as a bird flu outbreak could send them down again.
A quick check of the prices in Discovery Bay (a popular place to live for pilots) shows a range of 1.9M HK$ (245,000 US$) for a 496' highrise flat with a balcony to 38M HK$ (4.9M US$) for a 5200' house.
A typical pilot's family home is a 1310' lowrise flat advertised at 8.5M HK$ (1.1M US$). Add to this, you have to put down a minimum 10% deposit, pay 3.75% stamp duty (government tax) on houses over 6.6M HK$ and pay the estate agent 1% comission - even as a buyer.
The HK housing market is not for the faint hearted!