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.