Ready solutions to housing crisis
Copyright © 2015 China Daily Information Company
Abstract
Ho Lok-sang writes the Special Stamp Duty, which is intended to help people own a flat, is making life difficult for the most disadvantaged of aspiring home buyers.
Recent reports about increasingly small flats for sale in the private market last week were very disturbing. Even more worrying was the news that buyers need only a 5 percent down payment because the developer has arranged second mortgages on top of the standard loan ratio of 60 percent approved by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. These developments should alert us to the wrong direction of our housing policies. We really should change course. This is necessary to avoid condemning Hong Kong residents to increasingly cramped living and the possibility of buyers risking their life savings.