Homes sweet homes for rich who beat duty slug
Buy a few flats at same time, lump them into a single deal and you can skip double stamp duty
Does the government have one set of standards for rich homebuyers and another set for the not-so-rich? That appears to be the case - for seemingly inexplicable reasons.
Despite the doubled stamp duty on properties of more than HK$2 million - unless it is the first home for the buyer - those buying several flats at the same time only face having to pay the old stamp duty rate if their purchases are lumped together under one sales and purchase agreement.
A South China Morning Post investigation has found that the proposed amendment puts Hongkongers buying a second flat at a disadvantage because they would need to pay much more in stamp duty than rich investors without property who buy five or more flats in one go.
Land Registry data shows Sharon Lam Suet-yee bought five flats at yoo Residence in Causeway for HK$91.57 million on October 8. On October 24, Tse Sum-ping forked out HK$119.92 million for five flats at the Cullinan atop the Kowloon MTR Station.
Such multiple purchases by individuals are far from isolated cases. Last week, at Sino Land's joint-venture luxury residential project Avenue, in Wan Chai, 10 individual buyers each bought two flats on the same day.
A quirk in the Stamp Duty Ordinance means they could avoid having to pay double stamp duty, imposed to combat speculation.