Tycoon Developer Ronnie Chan Says Hong Kong Vacancy Tax Is Unfair
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's decision to tax developers who hold unsold properties will fall disproportionately on builders of ultra-luxury apartments, which take longer to sell, said Ronnie Chan, chairman of Hang Lung Properties Ltd.
“We are in a sense, a sitting duck,” said Chan, referring to the Hang Lung's Blue Pool Road development where houses cost more than HK$200 million ($25 million). “It is rather unfair for high-end luxury properties.”
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam this month announced a levy on new units left unsold for more than six months as a part of a broader effort to boost supply in the world's least affordable property market. The aim is to make it more expensive for developers to hoard properties instead of selling them.
Only six of the 18 houses at the Hang Lung project have sold since they first went on the market in 2016, with the most recent changing hands in March for HK$328 million, according to the Hong Kong land registry. “If there had been 18 buyers in the past three years I would have sold all of them,” Chan said.
Patrick Wong, a property analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said that's not always the case.
“Developers of ultra luxury properties hold onto them as long as possible," Wong said. “They keep them until they find a buyer offering a really high price.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong at fbalfour@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
