Government will not relax on property curbs: CY Leung

Passing of bills urged ASAP.

According to a report, Chief Executive CY Leung today reiterated that the Government will not relax nor refine demand-management property measures, and urged lawmakers to pass the bill on those measures as soon as possible.

Speaking to reporters before attending an Executive Council meeting, Mr Leung said a developer offered discounts to buyers this weekend, which offset the effects of some of the Government’s property measures. As a result, many buyers - including foreign and Mainland buyers, and speculators - queued up to buy flats in the development.

This showed the property market would return to the condition it was in before the property measures' introduction if the Government were to relax or cancel them, as some parties have demanded, he said.

He also said second-hand property transactions rose to a four-month high during the weekend as owners were willing to cut prices. This showed the market will become active again if developers and property owners are willing to follow the market trend and accept that property prices may go down as well as up.

Meanwhile, Mr Leung said reports about the Philippine justice chief visiting Hong Kong were not true. The Government has exchanged e-mails with the Philippine side concerning the Manila hostage tragedy, but as with other government-to-government communications, the Government cannot report every development every day.

The Government will have a dialogue with the Philippine Government shortly and will report to the public when there is significant progress, he said. It will also be goal-oriented, which means he and the Government will try their best to achieve the victims’ and bereaved families’ four requests.

He noted some people had suggested imposing sanctions against the Philippines, adding the Government has a strategy for handling the matter, which could not be disclosed.