FS Paul Chan announced that the government is stopping all the extra stamp duties in his budget speech at LegCo. The extra stamp duties, as known as "spicy" measures, include Special Stamp Duty(SSD), Buyer’s Stamp Duty(BSD) and New Residential Stamp Duty(NRSD). 2010: The first time of extra stamp tax The first time that Hong Kong government introduced "spicy" was in November, 2010. The price on property went took of after recovering from the financial crisis, so the SSD was introduced. It asks the person who resale the property within the first 2 years of purchase to pay up to 15% of the selling price. 2012: Increase of SSD and Introduce of BSD Although the SSD was introduced to reduce short-term speculation on property, it resulted in a reduction in the number of properties on the second-hand market. This led to another rise in property prices. Therefore, two years later, in October 2012, the government increased the rate of SSD to a maximum of 20% and a minimum of 10%. The resale time limit was also…

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong Paul Chan announced the immediate cancellation of all extra stamp duty measures for residential properties, known as "spicy" measures, included the Special Stamp Duty (SSD), Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD), and New Residential Stamp Duty (NRSD), concluding 13 years of "spicy" measures history. "We consider that the relevant measures are no longer necessary amidst the current economic and market conditions." [mfn]orginal speech given in Cantonese, quote from English transcript.[/mfn]Chan said. The 'Spicy' measures were reduced four months earlier, on Oct. 25. The applicable period of the SSD was shortened from three years to two years, and the BSD and NRSD were halved. A stamp duty suspension arrangement was also introduced. However, that didn't stop the continuous drop in residential property prices. According to the data from Rating and Valuation Department, the price index has recorded a continuous drop for nine months since May 2023. This includes a 5% drop since October 2023, when the first reduction in the 'Spicy' measures was implemented. The current (last month) price index for private residential…