South China Morning Post. SCMP reporters. 28 February 2024.
In his 2024-25 budget today Hong Kong finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po has announced the city will remove all restrictions on property transactions as part of his solutions to the sluggish economy and shrinking fiscal reserves in what some analysts are calling the most difficult budget blueprint ever.
Themed “Advance with Confidence. Seize Opportunities. Strive for High-quality Development”, the budget blueprint unveiled on Wednesday morning included a series of measures to spur growth.
All of the decade-old cooling measures aimed at curbing speculation were scrapped with immediate effect to revive Hong Kong’s depressed property market, with lived-in home prices falling for the ninth straight month in January to a level last seen in 2016.
This means removal of double stamp duty for purchase of 2nd or more properties, removal of special stamp duty for early sale of property and removal of buyer’s stamp duty of 15% for overseas investors/non-Hong Kong ID holders.
———————————–
Commentary from Ambiente Macau: It is expected to be a game changer for Hong Kong. How will this impact Macau? Based on the similarity of both markets it is highly likely that Macau’s administration will follow suit; if not, we can expect capital outflows from potential buyers from Macau – investors or local residents – to purchase in Hong Kong, especially because of Hong Kong’s higher rental yield.
