Hong Kong will stop offering residency to non-Hong Kongers who buy property and unveiled a rent-to-buy program, intensifying efforts to cool home prices that have jumped almost 50 percent from 2009.
The government will temporarily remove real estate from its Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, which was set up to encourage mainlanders and foreigners to invest to gain residency, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said in his annual policy address yesterday. It will also offer 5,000 units for first-time property buyers to rent for as long as five years before purchasing.
The government in the past year raised mortgage down payments and increased land supply to rein in home prices that have surged since the start of 2009 on the back of record low-interest rates and an influx of mainland buyers.
Many find it unnerving that property prices have kept rising and years of hard-earned savings cannot even cover a down payment, Tsang told the city s lawmakers. They hope the government will help them realize their aspirations for home ownership.
Under the rent-to-buy program, the government will let first-time property buyers rent for as long as five years at a fixed sum. During the period, tenants will be eligible to use half the total rent paid toward a down payment to buy a home.
The first project under the plan will provide about 1,000 units in the Tsing Yi district and is expected to be completed by 2014, Tsang said.
Home prices have surged almost 50 percent since the start of 2009, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd.
The government will continue to boost land supply and expects 61,000 new units to come onto the market in the next three to four years, Tsang said. In the past 10 years, an average of 18,500 new units were sold annually, he said.
Tsang also pledged to strengthen regulations of developers sales tactics, and the government will study requiring builders to list saleable floor areas instead of building area when calculating per-square-foot prices.(SD-Agencies)
