Hong Kong property heir pays low tax on $10.1m luxury home - The Straits Times

HONG KONG – Property heir Douglas Woo bought an apartment in an upscale area of Hong Kong for HK$59.8 million (S$10.1 million) while reportedly paying the stamp duty rate reserved for first-time home buyers.

The chairman of Wheelock & Co, one of Hong Kong’s biggest real estate firms, bought the luxury home in March, according to a Land Registry filing.

Mr Woo paid a 4.25 per cent tax on the purchase, local newspaper Ming Pao reported, citing documents. That rate is paid by first-time buyers of homes worth more than HK$21.7 million.

A buyer who does not already hold residential properties at the time of purchase qualifies as a first-time buyer. Otherwise, the tax rate for residents with existing home ownership is 15 per cent.

Mr Woo’s apartment is in a 49-year-old development in Repulse Bay at the south end of Hong Kong Island favoured by the wealthy.

The three-bedroom property has an area of 1,583 sq ft, translating to HK$37,776 per sq ft. The last transaction in the project was a lower-level home of the same size that sold for HK$60 million in 2020.

A Wheelock representative declined to comment.

Mr Woo’s father, Mr Peter Woo, is Hong Kong’s sixth-richest person with a net worth of US$18 billion (S$24 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Wheelock holds two listed real estate companies, The Wharf (Holdings) and Wharf Real Estate Investment.

Wharf’s signature projects include Mount Nicholson, one of Hong Kong’s most coveted luxury developments that has broken price records. The family’s portfolio also includes Harbour City and Times Square shopping malls.

The purchase by a buyer as prominent as Mr Woo will further boost sentiment in the market.

Hong Kong’s upscale home market had been under pressure amid Covid-19 restrictions and rising interest rates for the past few years. The border reopening with mainland China has improved the outlook, on expectations that wealthy Chinese buyers will return.

The value of luxury home transactions reached an eight-month high of HK$10 billion in January, according to Centaline Property Agency. BLOOMBERG

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