Hong Kong Mulls Property Vacancy Tax as Empty Flat Piles Up

News

Hong Kong Mulls Vacancy Tax as Empty Flats Pile Up

March 15, 2018

Hong Kong mulls property vacancy tax as empty flats piled up. Hong Kong financial chief Paul Chan said on an online interview on Thursday that possibility of property vacancy tax has been studied but did not specify if the tax would be on homeowners or developer.

In an online interview on Thursday, Chan noted the surge in the number of empty flats on the market last year.

As of September 2017, there were 9,000 unsold flats in private developments, of which 31% were in projects completed last year. By December, around 9,500 completed flats were left unsold. This compared with 2,000 unsold flats from projects completed in 2016. Some 43,657 flats, or 3.8% of the city’s total, were vacant in 2016, according to official statistics.

Chan said, “The government noticed that and has been studying the issue, vacant property tax is one of the measures being considered.”