Buying property in Hong Kong as a foreignerForeign buyers pay no extra stamp duty now. You buy a lease, not the land.

The law firm Howse Williams reported in July 2025 that anyone, including foreigners, can own and occupy real estate in Hong Kong. The Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitutional document, protects the right to acquire, use, sell and inherit property. Howse Williams also reported that some sites sold under the Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People scheme can be sold only to permanent residents for 30 years.

All land is State property, and virtually all of it is held on a government lease for a term of years. Leases granted between 1985 and 1997 generally expire no later than 30 June 2047. Under a law in force from 5 July 2024, general-purpose leases that expire without a right of renewal are extended for 50 years with no extra premium, but the Government keeps sole discretion over each extension.

Registering a document at the Land Registry gives it priority but does not guarantee title. Howse Williams reported that the buyer's solicitor therefore has to check all the historical title documents. For a new home from a developer you pay a 5% deposit and have 5 working days to sign the formal agreement, or you lose the deposit.

From: Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Lands Department; The Land Registry; Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority; Howse Williams (Alan Yip)

Buyer's Stamp Duty, the extra duty once charged on buyers who were not permanent residents, does not apply to any document signed on or after 28 February 2024. It had been 15%, then 7.5%. Special Stamp Duty on quick resales and New Residential Stamp Duty were cancelled on the same date.

From 26 February 2026 the stamp duty charged on the value of a home is HK$100 up to HK$4,000,000, then 1.5% up to HK$4,500,000, 2.25% up to HK$6,000,000, 3% up to HK$9,000,000, 3.75% up to HK$20,000,000, 4.25% up to HK$100,000,000 and 6.5% above that, with a short tapering band just above each step. The department's current table shows one set of rates and does not separate permanent residents from other buyers. Confirm this before you sign.

Each year you pay rates, a tax of 5% of the first HK$550,000 of rateable value (an official estimate of the yearly rent), with higher rates above that, and government rent of 3% of rateable value under leases granted since 1997. PwC reports that Hong Kong has no capital gains tax; the Inland Revenue Department taxes a gain only where the sale amounts to trading. Banks may lend up to 70% of a home's value, and no foreign exchange controls apply.

From: Inland Revenue Department; Hong Kong Government; Rating and Valuation Department; Lands Department; Hong Kong Monetary Authority; Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries

The Rating and Valuation Department's price index for private homes was 320.5 in August 2026 (provisional), against 288.8 a year earlier, a rise of about 11% on our calculation. Prices had fallen for three years before rising 2.5% in the year to the fourth quarter of 2025. The index is built from second-hand sales and excludes sales by developers.

For second-hand flats of 40 to 69.9 square metres, average prices in the second quarter of 2026 were HK$154,518 per square metre on Hong Kong Island, HK$138,627 in Kowloon and HK$116,771 in the New Territories. Rents on new lettings were HK$432, HK$392 and HK$288 per square metre a month. Official figures use saleable area, which excludes common areas, bay windows and parking spaces.

The department's indicative yields in August 2026 ran from 3.5% for homes under 40 square metres to 2.3% for homes of 160 square metres or more. It calls them a broad indication only. Sales slowed over the summer: agreements fell from 7,650 in June 2026 to 4,019 in August.

From: Rating and Valuation Department, figures to August 2026; our calculation from Rating and Valuation Department

The law on private residential lettings does not control rent increases and gives tenants no right to stay beyond the agreement. After each new letting or renewal the landlord files a notice (Form CR109) with the Rating and Valuation Department, free within one month. Until it is endorsed the landlord cannot sue for unpaid rent. A tenant who stays on can be removed only with a possession order from the Lands Tribunal or a court.

Offering paid sleeping accommodation needs a hotel or guesthouse licence unless every letting is for 28 continuous days or more. The maximum penalty for running an unlicensed guesthouse is a fine of HK$500,000 and three years' imprisonment, and both the owner and the tenant can be held criminally liable.

Rent is charged to property tax at 15% for 2025/26, after deducting rates the owner paid and a fixed 20% allowance. Management fees, government rent, repairs and agents' commission cannot be deducted. An owner living outside Hong Kong may authorise an agent in writing to complete the tax return.

From: Rating and Valuation Department; Hong Kong Government; Inland Revenue Department

No extension notice yet covers the leases that expire on 30 June 2047. Extensions are normally announced six years before expiry, and notices published up to 19 December 2025 reach only to the end of 2032. On that schedule a notice for 2047 would come around 2041, which is our reading of the Lands Department's timetable.

An owner must comply with a Buildings Department order, for example to remove alterations made without approval. Not complying is a criminal offence. Some orders were never registered, so a clean land search does not show that a flat is free of such works. Owners of buildings aged 30 years or more can also be ordered to inspect and repair the common parts.

Tropical cyclones may strike between May and November, and the Hong Kong Observatory notes that the landslips and flooding from their rain can do more damage than the wind. It projects sea level in 2100 at about 0.37 to 0.82 metres above the 1995 to 2014 average under intermediate emissions. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office warns that Hong Kong's national security laws can be interpreted broadly and apply to conduct inside and outside Hong Kong.

From: Lands Department; Buildings Department; Hong Kong Observatory; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office