Homes-for-Hongkongers plan will extend to their resale
Policy to help local homebuyers by barring non-residents from buying some flats will also extend to their resale, housing minister says
A much-awaited scheme to restrict sales of some new homes to Hong Kong buyers will be extended to the resale of those flats, the housing minister said yesterday.
In an interview with the , Secretary for Transport and Housing Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said the sales ban would be extended to safeguard the policy dubbed "Hong Kong property for Hong Kong residents". Otherwise buyers could quickly defeat its purpose by immediately reselling the flats to mainlanders.
Cheung was elaborating on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's announcement last week of 10 measures to cool the property market. Leung said the sales ban would be launched after legal drafting was completed and the new restrictions were added to land leases of new sites for sale to private developers.
"The purpose is to cater to Hong Kong residents' aspirations for home ownership," Cheung said. "If some locals resell the homes to outsiders soon after they buy them, will people call the policy nominally dead?
"We have to face that question, and it is a matter of enforcement. The cross-bureau taskforce is looking into the issues."
Asked if the ban is to be permanent once applied to a site, or whether it would last only for a few years, Cheung (pictured) said the matter is under study.
"We don't want people to exploit legal loopholes." he said.
