It is reported that the buyer will have to pay at least 15% Double Ad Valorem Stamp Duty (DSD), involving a tax of about $86.61 million, making it the largest amount of spicy tax so far this year, enough to purchase eight two-bedroom units in Taikoo Shing.

The flat has a saleable area of 7,042 sq ft, including basement, ground, 1st and 2nd floors, 4 bedrooms and 4 suites with storage space, 2,715 sq ft garden and pool, 1,970 sq ft courtyard and 2 car parking spaces.

There is no roof area. The house changed hands in the middle of last month for $577.444 million, at a price of $82,000 per square foot. The new buyer, whose surname is CHEN and whose name is in Mandarin pinyin, is said to be required to pay 15% of the transaction price, or approximately $86,617,000 in double ad valorem stamp duty.

Mr Wong Kwong-yiu, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Wheelock Properties, said Wharf's 1 Plantation Road on the Peak is expected to be launched in the third or fourth quarter of this year, with five of the units to be put up for sale and the remaining 15 for long-term rental. The development offers 20 low-density detached houses ranging from about 4,000 sq ft to 8,000 sq ft with sea views of the Southern District, each with its own lift and private garage.

In addition, many home buyers have taken advantage of the high property prices to "get on board" with the developers, which was once a cause for concern in the market. According to the latest statistics, the number of people who have used the developer's first mortgage has now been lifted to 60%.

According to Centaline Property Research, of the 77,481 new first-hand private residential properties launched in 2016 and beyond, 7,259, or 9.4%, have a first mortgage with a developer in 2022 or before.

As at 31 March this year, a total of 4,381 units, or 60.4%, had been released from the developer's first mortgage. Of these, 81.7% were re-mortgaged to HKMA-accredited institutions, 16.7% were re-sold second-hand and only 1.5% were re-mortgaged to non-HKMA-accredited institutions.

A total of 3,581 units, or 81.7%, were released from developers' first mortgages and re-mortgaged to banks. The market share of the banks was 18.8% for HSBC, 18.4% for BOC, 15.3% for Standard Chartered and 12.1% for Hang Seng, making a total of 64.6% for the four largest banks. However, in 2022, the market share of first-hand private residential mortgages of the Big Four banks will reach 76.0%, with BOC 25.4%, HSBC 22.9%, Standard Chartered 15.5% and Hang Seng 12.2%.

In terms of first mortgage year, the proportion of first mortgages using developers is 11.4% in 2019 or before, dropping to 6.5% between 2020 and 2022, a reduction of 4.9 percentage points. This indicates that the HKSAR Government has relaxed the loan-to-value ratio for first mortgages in 2019 and 2022, allowing banks to take on higher loan-to-value mortgages, and buyers are more likely to use bank-owned mortgages.