Hong Kong cancelled all of its residential property cooling measures with immediate effect on 28 February 2024. Announcing the 2024-25 Budget, the Financial Secretary said that no Special Stamp Duty (SSD), Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) or New Residential Stamp Duty (NRSD) would be payable on residential property transactions from that day, ending the Hong Kong property cooling measures for residential property.
Corporate INTL Newsroom · Tax
Hong Kong Property Cooling Measures Scrapped in the 2024-25 Budget
By The Corporate INTL Newsroom · 29 February 2024
The Inland Revenue Department confirmed that the Budget provided for the immediate cancellation of all demand-side management measures for residential properties, naming the three duties. In the Budget Speech, the Financial Secretary said the government had kept a close watch on the market and, after considering the overall situation, had concluded that the measures were no longer necessary in current economic and market conditions.
Following the October 2023 adjustments
The three duties were charged on top of ordinary stamp duty on certain residential purchases and resales. In October 2023 the government had already shortened the SSD holding period from three years to two, halved the rates of BSD and NRSD and introduced a stamp duty suspension arrangement for incoming talents, under which more than 500 applications had been approved.
Who is affected
The change matters most for buyers and sellers who were previously caught by the additional duties, including purchasers acquiring further residential property and owners looking to resell within the former SSD holding period. The cancellation covers the three additional duties only; it does not abolish ordinary stamp duty on property transactions, so transaction costs remain, but the extra layers that applied to these buyers and sellers have gone.
Mortgage lending next
The Budget Speech said there was also room for further adjustments to the countercyclical macroprudential measures for property mortgage loans and other supervisory policies on property lending, while maintaining banking stability, and that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority would make announcements on the same day. Lenders, developers and investors will be watching how the end of the Hong Kong property cooling measures, combined with any lending changes, affects transaction volumes in the coming months.
Sources
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