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SCMP Reporter

The government's migrant investment scheme has seen HK$36.6 billion invested in Hong Kong in the past six years, with the property market accounting for about 30 per cent of overall investment.
Immigration consultants said an increasing number of migrant investors had chosen to invest in property, included luxury flats, in the past year.
In a written reply to Liberal Party lawmaker Miriam Lau Kin-yee  yesterday, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong  said Security Bureau figures showed that HK$36.6 billion had been brought into the city through the government's Capital Investment Entrant Scheme,  which started in 2003. 
The scheme aims to attract people who can invest at least HK$6.5 million in Hong Kong but do not plan to run a business in the city. 
Successful applicants can apply for permanent residence  after living here for seven years.
About a third of the investment attracted by the scheme, HK$10.3 billion, went to  the property market, with the rest distributed  among  financial products, including HK$17.6 billion in stocks.
Immigration consultant Eddie Kwan King-hung  said the proportion of migrant investor clients who chose to invest in property had increased from 20 per cent last year to 40 per cent this year.
'Mainland investors are interested in buying a landmark luxury flat such as The Cullinan  or Masterpiece  to show their class if they choose to invest in the property market,' Kwan said.
Midland Immigration Consultancy  chief executive Thomas Kut  said that while some migrant investors would be interested in luxury flats worth more than HK$10 million, many would still like to buy property worth about HK$7 million.
'Migrant investors prefer to select flats in new residential projects which they think are worthy of long-term investment,' Kut said.
Since October 2003, the Immigration Department has approved 5,182 applicants and 9,945 dependants under the scheme. Three-quarters of the successful applicants - 3,904 - are Chinese nationals with overseas permanent residence, and 16 per cent, 843, are foreign nationals.
In the first nine months of this year, 2,358  applications were received. There were 1,795 applications in 2007 and 2,798 last year.
Only 53 applications have been refused since the scheme was launched, with the applicants failing to satisfy asset requirements. 
The government said the scheme was attractive to investors. It has recently included insurance products as a permissible investment class.  
'We will review the scheme from time to time, with a view to improving its attractiveness,' Lee said. It  is open to foreign nationals, residents of Macau and Taiwan, and other Chinese nationals with residency in a foreign country.
Mainland residents are not eligible to join the scheme. Lee said the government would consider exchanging views with mainland authorities  about making the scheme available to such  residents.
Moving money
Types of investment in Capital Investment Entrant scheme (in HK dollars)
Stocks  $17.65b
Property  $10.38b
Debt securities  $5.21b
Collective investment schemes $2.99b
Certificates of deposits  $432m
Subordinated debt  $1.5m
Total  $36.6b 
Source: Security Bureau



Migrant entry initiative brings city HK$36.6b