New residential stamp duty sends chill through mainland Chinese buyers

Nearly two-thirds of mainland buyers will avoid Hong Kong homes - at least in the next six months, if not forever - now that the government has launched its latest cooling measures, a poll shows.

Of 229 mainland buyers property agency Midland China surveyed after the new levies were announced last Friday, 62 per cent would not consider buying a home in the city within half a year. A further 3 per cent said they would no longer consider buying a flat in Hong Kong.

However, the remaining 35 per cent would consider entering the market, depending on price movements, the poll found.

Meanwhile, i-Cable news reported last night that Cheung Kong (Holdings), the developer controlled by Li Ka-shing, is offering a discount of 15 per cent on its remaining new flats at Uptown in Yuen Long.

The discount will remove the burden imposed on buyers affected by a new buyer's stamp duty. Cheung Kong is the first developer to offer such an incentive.

"The buying attitude of mainlanders has changed drastically after Hong Kong imposed its latest austerity measures," said Samuel Wong, Midland China's chief operating officer and managing director for southern China.