Hong Kong developers rush to sell empty flats ahead of new vacancy tax

Government is due to discuss details of a new levy on vacant properties as a way of helping ease the city’s acute housing shortage

Sun Hung Kai Properties plans to clear its stock of 350 empty apartments at Grand Yoho phase two in Yuen Long. Photo: David Wong

Hong Kong’s property developers are rushing to offload empty new flats before the government unveils details of a vacancy tax this month aimed at preventing hoarding, as it seeks to ease the city’s housing crisis.

New World Development will release the last 38 homes – left ­unoccupied for the past five years – in phase one of its Park Villa project in Yuen Long at discounted prices on Saturday. Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) hopes to clear its stock of 350 empty apartments at Grand Yoho phase two, near Yuen Long Station, in the second half of this year. Grand Yoho was completed in mid-2017.

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