Group vacancy does not help to curb property prices. It is feared that families will be promoted to release idle government dormitories.
The Chief Executive Lam Yung-yin said earlier that the study on residential vacancy will be released this month. The Hong Kong Taxpayer Rights and Interest Group “107 Power” and the Lion Rock Institute held a seminar yesterday to question the effectiveness of vacant taxes in reducing property prices. It is pointed out that the ratio of vacant public housing and civil servants’ dormitories is not low. It is considered that these land resources should be released first.
107 He Mengjie, the power convener, stated that the tax system did not change the market activities and the people’s living habits. The addition of taxes would not only fail to achieve its original purpose, but would also bring unimaginable consequences, just as the government repeatedly implemented the “hot tricks” of the property market. Failure to curb speculation has affected only the decline in trading volume. He added that due to the increase in transaction costs caused by the “hot tricks”, the number of flats in the public buildings has decreased and the number of transactions has been reduced accordingly.
107 Dynamic Entrepreneurial Large Units
Earlier, Liu Yixiang, director of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, said that there are currently about 9,000 vacant primary units in Hong Kong. He Min-jeou thinks this figure is overvalued. He explained that since developers have to undergo tedious procedures before they can be approved, some of the vacant units, such as high-profile large units, are not designed for passengers. Vacancy taxes may not help the people to buy their own homes. Therefore, he advocates exemption from taxation of large units, marking with satisfactory paper and no traceability period.
He Minjie added that if the government implements a vacant tax, the result will only be the same as the value-added tax. The developer will pass on the tax cost to consumers. Ultimately, only the public will be affected. The developer will not lose money at all.
Bai Zhongkai, director of operations of the Shizishan Academy, believes that the government’s implementation of vacant taxes is like “punishment early and encourage lateness.” He pointed out that developers can evade paying vacant taxes by first selling the stern-end units and postponing the completion of other new buildings and the postponement period. However, the primary market supply did not increase with it. He is worried that the vacant tax will be extended to the secondary market, and even the implementation of rental control; in addition, there are also vacant households, rich families and other issues in the existing public housing, the government should first start to study how to improve and avoid wasting public property.