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HONG KONG : New rules to market and sell homes in Hong Kong took effect on Tuesday, with the aim of making the sale process more buyer-friendly.
The measures were introduced by the government in a bid to cool the market and to make it more transparent.
Blue-chip developer Henderson Land made headlines last October, when a unit of its luxury development at 39 Conduit Road fetched a record price.
However, under new guidelines for developers, it won't be able to aggressively market such units again.
Other measures in place includes offering a price list for buyers three days before sales, and disclosing the selling price five days after the transaction, instead of a month.
Hong Kong's Democratic Party is questioning the uncompleted sales at 39 Conduit Road, and it has filed a complaint with the city's securities watchdog.
Albert Ho, chairman, Democratic Party, said: "The Lands Department has been following the matter for months and up to now, no satisfactory account has been given by Henderson Land to show that these sales are genuine.
"This would give rise to more grounded suspicions that these sales are not genuine and maybe made up to boost the property market as well as the stock price in the stock market."
Henderson Land has denied any wrongdoing.
Average home prices have jumped an average of 41 per cent since the end of 2008. But analysts said that the new measures in place will have limited impact on property prices.
Instead, global market uncertainties have weighed in recently, lowering asking prices by up to 10 per cent in the mass market.
Trevor Cheung, Head of Property Research, BNP Paribas, said: "As far as I am concerned, or as far as the industry or the developers are concerned, the key underlying pillar is abstinence from the public housing market.
"So far, the government has more or less held to its word not to re-enter the HOS (Home Ownership Scheme) market. And that is very crucial. At the moment, the government is under pressure to resume HOS housing, because obviously there are lot of young people who have been priced out of the private market, so there is a genuine demand there.
"But I think it is very dangerous, even (if) it is resumed in a small way, it unravels all that has been supporting the private market."
The government has just launched a public consultation on the resumption of subsidised housing, asking whether taxpayers' money should be used to help people buy homes. - CNA/ms
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