On 4 November 2016, the Government announced that the Stamp Duty Ordinance would be amended to increase the ad valorem stamp duty (AVD) rates for residential property transactions to a flat rate of 15%. Subject to the enactment of the relevant legislation, any instrument executed on or after 5 November 2016 for the sale and purchase or transfer of residential property, unless specifically exempted or provided otherwise, will be subject to the proposed new AVD rate.

Exemptions and exceptions to the payment of AVD rates already provided for in the Ordinance will continue to apply. Thus, where the residential property is acquired by a Hong Kong permanent resident (HKPR) who is acting on his/her own behalf and does not own any other residential property in Hong Kong at the time of acquisition, the relevant instrument will still be subject to AVD at Scale 2. The refund mechanism under the existing regime for HKPR buyer who changes his/her single residential property will also be retained.

Transactions relating to non-residential properties would not be affected by the change.

For details, please see the FAQs for AVD – proposed new AVD rate.