2024 Policy Address: Expanded immigration scheme to have limited impact on residential market

The measure, however, will have an "immediate" impact on luxury residential sales.

Hong Kong's move to extend its investment immigration scheme to residential property is expected to have a limited impact on the general residential market, said experts.

"This measure supports the residential market but will have a minor effect. Since the investment immigration program was launched this year, there have been only 47 successful cases and 448 applications," said Joseph Tsang, Chairman of JLL in Hong Kong.

"Expanding the program to include residential properties is expected to have limited effects on application numbers and transaction volumes," he added.

Thomas Chak, Head of Capital Markets & Investment Services at Colliers, shared a similar view but noted that the measure could enhance the transaction volumes of luxury properties.

Hannah Jeong, Head of Valuation & Advisory Services at CBRE Hong Kong, echoed this sentiment, stating that the impact of the measure will be "immediately reflected" in luxury residential sales.

"Following the removal of the demand-side stamp duty and the rate cut in September, we’ve seen a meaningful recovery in transaction volumes," Jeong said.

CBRE reported that super luxury home transactions hit a three-year high in the first three quarters of 2024, with 72 homes priced over HKD 100 million sold—up 22% from last year’s 59 transactions.

"This policy will further boost demand for luxury residential properties, helping to stabilize prices in this category," Jeong added.

Meanwhile, Agnes Wong, leader for Private Clients and Family Office Tax at PwC South, advised the government to align the list of permissible investment assets with qualifying assets under the family office tax concession regime to ensure both regimes complement each other.

"These measures can simultaneously expand Hong Kong's capital and talent pools, achieving two goals at once," Wong said.