15 per cent stamp duty

To rein in the city's runaway housing prices, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced an additional 15 per cent stamp duty on non-permanent-resident and corporate buyers starting from October 27, 2012. The move prompted speculation over the effectiveness of taxation on the real estate market and criticisms that Hong Kong was turning away from its roots as a free market economy in favour of a more protectionist market environment.

PROPERTY

Hotel scheme holds high risks for buyers who saved on stamp duty

22 Feb 2013

Buyers of units in the Apex Horizon hotel may risk financial burdens despite avoiding stamp duties by making the controversial purchase, property experts warn. This week property giant Cheung Kong...

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Probe launched on sales in Apex hotel over stamp duty

19 Feb 2013

The Lands Departments is investigating whether property giant Cheung Kong has violated land lease regulations by selling units at a suite hotel.

Buyers do not have to pay stamp duties when...

Stamp duty keeping non-locals out of property market

16 Feb 2013

While observers believe it is too early to say for sure if the cooling effect was short-lived, they argue that locals buying through firms should be exempted from the tax, as figures show few...

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Solicitors, commerce chamber seeks exemptions to proposed stamp duty

15 Feb 2013

Solicitors and a foreign business chamber have expressed concern about a planned 15 per cent stamp duty on non-local and corporate property buyers, while another chamber has endorsed it.

No holiday for property agents as flats snapped up

14 Feb 2013

Sun Hung Kai Properties, which launched Residence 88 in Yuen Long on Wednesday, said the project attracted a keen response. The developer expected about 100 flats to be sold by the end of the...

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Hong Kong home sales spike as locals jump in to buy

Home sales rebounded sharply last month, driven by local buyers unaffected by the government's new stamp duty provisions targeting overseas and corporate investors.

Fears of more intervention as home sales rebound

Sales and prices have improved despite a decline in demand from mainland and corporate buyers, whose purchases have slowed since the authorities introduced taxes aimed at non-local and corporate...

Call to leave local-owned companies out of 15pc tax

Developers have made a counter-proposal to the government over a new property tax, suggesting that small companies with no more than five shareholders - who must all be locals - should be exempted...

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PROPERTY

Cooling measures start to bite as homes market sees sharp sales drop

The number of new residential mortgage applications slumped 30 per cent last month from the previous month as the government's measures to cool the property market started to bite, the Hong Kong...

BUDGET

New stamp duties 'no big blow' to government revenue: forecast

An accounting institute has predicted that government revenue will not be badly hit by the two new stamp duties introduced late last year, forecasting instead a budget surplus of HK$25.6 billion...

MONITOR

Early signs suggest new stamp duties haven't reined in prices

At the end of October, the Hong Kong government slapped a punitive 15 per cent stamp duty on all non-resident and corporate buyers of residential properties in an attempt to make homes in the city...

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