The Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, together with the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang; the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung; the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan; the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan; the Government Economist, Mrs Helen Chan; and the Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Mr Tam Tai-pang, held a press conference today (November 4) on the new round of demand-side management measures to address the overheated residential property market. Following is the transcript of remarks at the press conference:
Reporter: Thanks. A couple of questions. First, why now, why do you need to raise the Stamp Duty right now? And secondly, are you concerned that, how much of an effect do you think such a measure will have? Would you be concerned that it may overshoot and overly cool down the market? Thank you.
Chief Executive: I think as far as the timing is concerned, both myself and my colleagues have explained it, particularly the Secretary for Transport and Housing. In view of recent market performance, we believe that this is the right time to do this. We believe that this is a cooling measure on the private housing market in Hong Kong, and this has been borne out by the number of DSD cases in recent months.
Reporter: Sorry, the overshoot question. Is there a chance it will overshoot - overly cool the market?
Chief Executive: What do you mean by overshoot?
Reporter: Like, it would have a too big of an effect?
Chief Executive: We have always had this policy of giving priority to people who need a home for owner-occupation purposes.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, November 4, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:44
CE holds press conference