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Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in a media stand-up session today (October 28):
Reporter: (Stamp Duty)
Secretary for Transport and Housing: The enhanced version of the Special Stamp Duty arrangements, as well as the new Buyer Stamp Duty arrangement are aimed to stabilise the residential property market. We give priority to the end users. So to that extent, of course we feel that the measures that we introduce should ensure the genuine homebuyers who are permanent residents of Hong Kong should be given priority. In terms of companies, we are aware of some views that local companies might be considered for exemption. We have considered this very carefully in the formulation stage of our new measures. We feel that there is no mechanism whereby we can prevent non-permanent residents to use the locals to form a company in order to evade the new Buyer Stamp Duty. Secondly, in terms of the most favoured nation provision of some of the international agreements that Hong Kong has entered into, we have to ensure equal treatment to both local companies and foreign companies. So we feel on balance that the current restriction which is applied to all companies, irrespective whether they are Hong Kong companies or foreign companies should stand.
Reporter: (Property supply)
Secretary for Transport and Housing: We feel that we have a large number of second-hand residential properties. Some of those might have been affected by the previous Special Stamp Duty in the last two years. But those properties which have already outlasted to that two years, I don't think the owners have any problem in terms of putting those properties on market. Now for those properties bought when the new... Again, if the owners buy these properties for long-term investment, once the three year period is over, of course there is no conditional Stamp Duty. So on balance, given that the Government is also steadily supplying new residential properties on the market through land sales and public housing, we feel that the overall supply should be stable.
Reporter: (MTR fare)
Secretary for Transport and Housing: As I said, in the past, we have been listening to various views, whether in the community or within the Legislative Council on the Fare Adjustment Mechanism. The Government has already announced that the Fare Adjustment Mechanism will be reviewed jointly with the MTR Corporation. At this stage we listen to various views with an open mind. The public consultation period has been extended by half a month to the middle of November. As I said, we did not start from zero, because in the last few months, whether in the LegCo or in the community, there have been various views and there have been various suggestions about whether the mechanism can reflect the MTRC's service performance. And some suggest the affordability of the public should also be considered. We will listen to these views very carefully and...with MTR Corporation in taking the Fare Adjustment Mechanism forward.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, October 28, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:23
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