Public Would Welcome 'vacancy' Tax, Liber Says

A planning concern group said on Friday that a vacancy tax on developers and property owners who leave their flats vacant would be widely welcomed, and warned that there could be far more empty properties than first thought.

The Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, confirmed on Thursday that the government was looking at the idea, citing a sharp rise in the number of unsold flats. Chan said that last December about 9,500 completed flats were left unsold.

But Brian Wong, from the Liber Research Community, says the Financial Secretary underestimated the number of such properties, and added that the three percent vacancy rate cited by Chan was too low.

"When you look at the transactions of the property market we see that there could be a very high demand for investment (properties)," Wong said.

He said Liber had looked at the methodology of the survey used by the government and the sample was not as big as expected so the situation could be even more serious.

Hong Kong's residential property prices have hit record highs, despite government efforts to cool the market by boosting supply and raising stamp duties.

Official figures show the home price index rose for the 15th month in January, the longest stretch of gains since 1993.