Vacancy Tax for Developers

[shri]

“Hong Kong’s housing prices have largely exceeded affordability levels. We have been studying measures such as a vacancy tax on developers and will announce the results soon,” Chan said when questioned by a legislator on when the government would unveil such tax schemes.

The vacancy tax would apply only to developers and would not affect owners in the secondary property market, the finance chief added.

Possible loophole - subsidiary of the developer could buy the units and hold them?

Hong Kong to announce results of study on vacancy tax to cool property market, finance chief Paul Chan says | South China Morning Post

[East_coast]

Possible loophole - subsidiary of the developer could buy the units and hold them?

Hong Kong to announce results of study on vacancy tax to cool property market, finance chief Paul Chan says | South China Morning Post

Hong Kong government relies on Homeopathy.
















Policy suggestions get watered down so much that they become useless but lapped up by the faithful.

[shri]

Jeez .. been a long day. Read that as homoapathy.

[freeier]

that's apparently what some singapore developers did. bought it under the pretense of a service apartment type of arrangement but never sold...

[orel100x]

Possible loophole - subsidiary of the developer could buy the units and hold them?

But then they would have to pay the stamp duty, wouldn't they?

[shri]

But then they would have to pay the stamp duty, wouldn't they?

Peanuts ...

[MandM!]

Isn't company stamp duty 30%? But I guess they could set the price too.

[MandM!]

They will just build 99% and not finish it. Delay construction vs delay sales.

[shri]

They will just build 99% and not finish it. Delay construction vs delay sales.

There are some obligations to complete the development by a certain date.

Look up the case of Polytec in Macau to see how bad it can get (not saying it will happen or happens in HK) but a careful read of the land sale contract in HK will reveal a number of penalties for not completing on date. Besides, a developer cannot sell "99%" without completing 100%...

[shri]

- Look up 72C_ASP on the lands department site - have not bothered to read it .. but it does have penalties. (Thanks to JAHerbert for pointing this out a few months ago on another thread where this was discussed).

Yes, there are plenty of ways to delay construction.. and the govt may be complicit in some of those ways. Who knows...