Property price curbs here to stay, says Leung Chun-ying
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Tuesday said again that property market cooling measures would be maintained and no exemptions would be made for certain groups of buyers in order to maintain market stability.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Tuesday said again that property market cooling measures would be maintained and no exemptions would be made for certain groups of buyers in order to maintain market stability.
Legislators are now debating the two bills on the cooling measures, which have not yet been passed into law by the Legislative Council. But the taxes have already taken effect.
[The weekend buyers' queue] tells us that if the government adjusts ... or even scraps the measures, the property market will return to its status before their introduction
Leung, who was not taking part in the Legco debate, noted on Tuesday that transactions of second-hand flats had reached a four-month high over the past long weekend and some developers had offered rebates to wipe out the effects of the government’s cooling measures.
Leung also cited media reports that up to a thousand buyers at the weekend had queued up to buy flats at a luxury project in Kowloon, with close to 20 per cent of them coming from the mainland.
“This tells us that if the government adjusts or reduces the magnitude of the measures, or even scraps them, the property market will return to its status before their introduction,” he said.
“This is something we do not want to see,” Leung said, speaking before attending an Executive Council meeting.