In a move aimed at cooling the property market, Hong Kong’s government raised the stamp duty for all properties priced over HK$2 million (S$319,481) to 8.5 percent last Friday, leading to a decline in home sales over the weekend.
According to Buggle Lau, Chief Analyst at realtor Midland Holdings, secondary sales fell 15 percent in the 15 most popular housing estates.
The latest regulations are the third set of property curbs announced since Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying took office in July last year.
Housing prices in the city have doubled in the last four years, supported by record low mortgage rates, limited supply and strong demand from Chinese buyers.
“Investors do have to digest it and then, what we will see further down the line is that we’ll reach a new level of normality,” said Edward Farrelly, Head of Hong Kong research at CBRE.
“We’ve seen in other jurisdictions that when tax rate changes and measures are implemented, there’ll be a period of adjustment but all players in the market will get used to this.”
Meanwhile, the government has also expanded the scope of its curbs into commercial transactions, given the influx of buyers purchasing hotel rooms in the territory.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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