The loan-to-value ratio for owner-occupied residential properties priced at $15 million or below was raised to 70%, that for properties priced above $15 million and up to $30 million was raised to 60%, and that for properties priced above $30 million remained unchanged at 50%. In addition, the loan-to-value ratio for non-residential properties, including industrial buildings, commercial buildings and stores, has been raised from 50% to 60%, while the loan-to-value ratio for borrowers' net asset value has been raised from 40% to 50%.
However, the Financial Secretary Paul Chan repeatedly said that the current property prices are still high, the government has no intention of relaxing the SSD and other property market "spicy measures", emphasizing that the measures announced by the HKMA a few days ago, is to help the buyers of self-occupation and intends to change the public, can pay less down payment and mortgage insurance.
Mr. Chan wrote an article in his weblog "The Chief Secretary's Essay" to explain the considerations for the fine-tuning of the mortgage arrangements. He pointed out that the fine-tuning of the mortgage arrangements is not a prelude to or a variation of any kind of "spiciness reduction", and that the Government does not have any intention of "reducing spiciness". Taking into account a range of factors, including the current property market situation, the local economy and the external environment, the Government considers that there is room for revising some of the macro-prudential measures on mortgage lending, with a view to easing the burden of down payment on the public for the purchase of the first owner-occupier property and flat replacement without affecting the risks borne by the banking system.
However, he added that the macro-prudential regulatory measures on the loan-to-value ratio of mortgages are not set in stone, but are not to be moved rashly, and the fundamental principle is to maintain the risk of the banking system under control while taking into account the needs of the public to purchase their own homes.
Midland Realty Chief Analyst Lau Ka Fai pointed out that the Government relaxed the mortgage loan-to-value ratio of owner-occupied properties; however, the stress test is not in line with the policy and relaxation, in the monthly income is greatly increased, it is difficult for some owners to realize the dream of changing the property, and therefore suggested that the simultaneous relaxation of the stress test will help the public to change the property.
More importantly, under the current system, if property owners exchange their properties by "buy-and-sell" method, they have to pay 15% Spicy Duty first, which can only be refunded after they sell their original properties, therefore, to facilitate the public to exchange their properties, it is suggested to revert the rate of stamp duty of 15% for new residential properties to Double Stamp Duty (DSD), and at the same time, undoubtedly, full customs clearance between Mainland China and Hong Kong will be resumed by early 2023, but at the initial stage of resumption of normal operation, it will be difficult for the Mainland buyers to purchase properties in Hong Kong. However, during the initial period of resumption, it is difficult for mainland buyers to fully restore the market situation to the level before the epidemic.
As for SSDs reflecting short-term speculative cases, only 85 cases were recorded in the first half of 2023, representing a drop of about 10.5% compared with 95 cases in the second half of 2022, which is the second lowest since records began, showing that short-term speculative activities in the residential market are almost extinct.
Mr. Lam Kin-fung, Member of the Executive Council and Member of the Legislative Council, said that apart from the business sector, many people who are interested in buying flats to get on the train also want to withdraw the "spicy" policy, which is considered to be urgent. He pointed out that Hong Kong's housing policy affects the purchasing power of housing, and apart from the loan-to-value ratio, the "spicy measures" also have an impact. He said that the Government's new arrangement was a "good start" and that it could consider relaxing the "spicy measures" as appropriate, but emphasized the need to maintain stable property prices and supply, and argued that not all problems could be solved by building more public housing units under the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS).
