10 February 2015 - Hong Kong’s property prices continued to hit historic highs in spite of the government’s efforts to curb speculative activities. The latest Centa-City Leading Index (CCL) marked another record at 136.35, showing a steady increase for the 10th consecutive month.
South China Morning Post reported that the government will receive HKD$70 billion revenue from stamp duty for the current financial year, with a remarkable 80% increase compared to the last financial year. Among which, HKD$20 billion come from the double stamp duty collected from targeted investors, which is 50% higher than the total stamp duty revenue of 2013. This has apparently benefited the government’s revenue, but a large group of investors are still actively buying new properties regardless of the stringent measures. They are mostly attracted to buying smaller size, first hand flats for that allow them to enjoy higher mortgage rates and discounts from developers.
Some government authorities, including the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, the Secretary for Transport and Housing and the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Monetary Authority, all expressed their concerns over the overheated property market in various occasions. Hence some analysts believe that the government will carry out more cooling measures to stabilize the market before providing new public housing to tackle the core of the problem.
