A body representing Hong Kong
real estate developers has urged the government to exclude properties valued
over HK$30 million from the recently introduced property tax aimed at foreign
investors.

The Real Estate Developers Association submitted a
letter to the government requesting that properties bought by companies owned
by permanent Hong Kong residents also be exempt.

The 15 per cent levy was introduced last month in
an effort to cool escalating property prices but the REDA said it would
threaten Hong Kong’s reputation as a free market.

“The real estate
market is now under direct government control - a situation which we consider
is unhealthy and potentially dangerous,” Stewart Leung, chairman of the
executive committee at the association, wrote in the proposal to the
government.

REDA represents the
city’s major developers, including Cheung Kong Ltd., Sun Hung Kai Properties,
New World Development Co. and Henderson Land Development.