HK unveils measures to increase property sales transparency
Posted: 20 November 2009 2159 hrs

	Photos  of

HONG KONG: The Hong Kong government on Friday unveiled a list of measures to increase the transparency of property sales, in a bid to cool public anger over a developer's selective floor-numbering tactic.

Under the new arrangement, developers must also make details of transactions involving uncompleted first-hand residential properties public within five working days of signing preliminary agreements for sale and purchase.

"We have significantly shortened the period to five days... in order to allow the public to gain access to market information as soon as possible," Chief Executive Donald Tsang told a press briefing.

At present, developers are only required to register the transaction within one month of the sale.

Developers will also be required include the price per square foot (or metre) of the "saleable area" of individual flats on their price lists, instead of only the overall price of the flats, as is the case now.

They will also have to give floor numbering information at the beginning of their sales brochures, replacing the current practice of printing the information at the end of the books.

"The government is deeply concerned about some recent sales tactics in the first-hand uncompleted residential property market, and confusing market information," a government spokesman said in a statement.

"The new measures will further enhance the transparency of transactions of uncompleted first-hand residential properties and the clarity of property information," he said.

The measures, to take effect by the end of November, follow public outcry over a developer numbering the two highest levels of a 46-storey residential building "68" and "88", in order to attract potential Chinese buyers.

The number "eight" sounds like "fortune" in Mandarin and Cantonese. Chinese people like the number "88" as it symbolises "double fortune" and "68" as it sounds like "continuing fortune".

The 68th floor of the luxury duplex – a combination of the 43rd and 44th floors, according to media reports – was sold for a world record 88,000 Hong Kong dollars (11,300 US) per square foot, Henderson Land Development said.

That translated into a price tag of 439 million Hong Kong dollars.

Critics have urged the government to intervene to stop developers from adopting further unscrupulous marketing practices.

Hong Kong, where developers often top lists of the city's wealthiest and most powerful, has seen many record-breaking property sales in recent months as an influx of mainland Chinese investors, and low interest rates, stoke demand.

Concerns over a possible property market bubble have prompted the government to consider increasing the land supply.


- AFP/so