AFTER operating in Hong Kong some 20 years, we are closing down our operation and moving to Singapore.
The costs, particularly rents for housing our staff have escalated so much it is no longer feasible for us to be here.
We do feel the Hong Kong Government has been caught off guard with the dilemma it finds itself in with property prices.
A strong dose of medicine is required, but this will not be allowed because a lot of legislators would personally be affected, for example, the May 11 Capital Gains Tax proposal was defeated in Legco.
Increasing land supply may be a way to show to the general public that the Government is doing ''something'', but we know in reality, more land means more auctions and basically the same mainland developers will again be there to bid up the prices to yet another record. We have seen their pictures only too often on the business pages over the past few years. It is in their interests to up the prices as they have to show glorious, increasing results to their shareholders.
Perhaps one possibility of cooling down the property scene is to bring back rent control, where rentals can only be increased by X per cent so at least say, on residential properties people can have a shelter over their heads without the constant fear of exorbitant increases.
