Hong Kong mulls over refinement of cooling measures

Government to maintain impact of measures.

Secretary for Transport & Housing Prof Anthony Cheung says the Government has adopted a listening mode on refining its property cooling measures.

Speaking to the media after attending the Institute of Surveyors Annual Conference 2013 last Saturday, Prof Cheung said the Government has accepted the concerns expressed by some legislators and developers and has come up with a committee stage amendment on refining the arrangements.

He said the amendment will shorten the time for developers to get back the Buyer's Stamp Duty refund for redevelopment projects.

He reiterated the cooling off measures are necessary because the Government does not want to see a repeat of the asset bubble bursting, adding a soft landing is better should there be any major changes in the external environment.

Prof Cheung said the Government wants to maintain the impact of the measures.

Meanwhile, he said at the conference that Hong Kong will need to build the equivalent of one new town per decade, or three new towns roughly the scale of Sha Tin within 30 years to deal with the housing problem.

“Our future new towns should, broadly speaking, be developed as self-sustained communities and in a balanced and holistic manner, with sufficient commercial or industrial activities, community facilities and local employment opportunities to enable the local community to flourish.

"This helps improve the quality of life for the residents in the whole area. We need the community to reach a consensus about the necessary trade-offs in order to realise this aspiration.”