Hong Kong residential buy-to-let, costed: the duties are gone and rents are at records — and mortgage rates still exceed the gross yield
Composite-board score: 4.6 · Where it is strong: Tax friendliness, Net cash flow · methodology
Hong Kong's institutional barriers for foreign buyers have been cleared to zero: on 28 February 2024 all cooling measures were abolished (BSD, SSD and NRSD gone), and foreigners pay the same AVD Scale 2 as locals (HK$100 up to HK$4M, topping at 4.25%). The door is open; the arithmetic is shut: gross rental yields are only 3.4–3.6% (RVD basis, Class A at 3.6%), and after rates and government rent, management, voids and repairs, and the 15% property tax, the full-cost net is about 1.8–2.4% (this site's costing). The decisive line is on the financing side: mainstream mortgage pricing of about 3.5% already exceeds the gross yield — a leveraged purchase is negative-carry from day one; the rent does not cover the interest. The backdrop is equally counter-intuitive: the rental index is at an all-time record (200.7, +4.3% in 2025), but prices rose 3.25% the same year — numerator and denominator rising together leaves the yield standing still; and prices remain about 25% below the 2021 peak, so the 'repair' is one year old. Rated below-bar explainer: with Germany (No. 74) and Canada (No. 63) it forms a contrast set — Germany is regulation-capped, Canada is tax-capped, Hong Kong is price-and-rate-capped; three different presses, one conclusion. On status: the CIES's HK$30M portfolio scheme (queued in the identity hub) has nothing to do with buying a small flat to let.
In short: four lines first
Small units in the HK$4–8M range plus AVD
1.8–2.4%（Hong Kong residential buy-to-let full-cost net yield (derived basis)）
Heavy burden (management by agent for absentee owners, costed in)
This entry is itself the conclusion: a net of about 1.8–2.4% against a negative-carry financing structure fails on the cash-flow dimension — a costing result that rent headlines do not change (when rents and prices rise together, the yield does not move).
The numbers that matter
Why we think it makes money
It corrects a common misread: 'liberalisation equals opportunity'. The 2024 abolition is a genuine institutional positive, but it changed access, not yield — this site prints the abolition and the negative carry on one page so readers keep the two layers separate.
'Record rents, motionless yield' is a good lesson in yield arithmetic: yield is rent divided by price, and when both rise together the quotient does not move — anyone buying on rent headlines alone will systematically overstate returns.
Printing the negative carry has practical value: with mortgage rates above the gross yield, every leveraged year in Hong Kong residential starts cash-negative before appreciation is discussed — that single line is worth more than a hundred cautions.
How to actually get in
- This page is a costing explainer and offers no purchase route. The institutional facts are stated for self-verification: foreigners buy on the same AVD as locals (Scale 2); rental income bears property tax at 15% (on the net assessable value basis); there is no capital-gains tax.
What it costs, what it earns
Entry amount: Small units in the HK$4–8M range plus AVD
How much work for you: Heavy burden (management by agent for absentee owners, costed in)
- Purchase AVD: HK$100 up to HK$4M, progressive to 4.25% above (6.5% for residential above HK$100M from 26 Feb 2026) — duty is no longer the big item, but it still counts in round-trip friction.
- Holding: rates and government rent, management fees, voids and repairs, and 15% property tax; on exit there is no SSD (abolished) but agent and legal fees apply as usual.
Basis: this site uses full-cost net returns only — income minus vacancy, management, maintenance, taxes and insurance, then financing interest, with entry costs in the denominator. See the methodology。
Identity & tax
Status (residency / citizenship)
This asset does not count toward the channel This asset leads to no status
Threshold: 净资产 ≥HK$3,000 万；投资 ≥HK$3,000 万（其中 CIES 投资组合 HK$300 万）
买 REIT 单位、买楼本身都不给身份。香港的投资移民是 New CIES（2024 年 3 月重启）：须证明申请前 6 个月净资产 ≥HK$3,000 万并投资 ≥HK$3,000 万——≥HK$2,700 万投许可金融资产和/或房地产 + HK$300 万入 CIES 投资组合（香港投资管理有限公司管理）。房地产有顶：2025-09-17 起总上限 HK$1,500 万、住宅子上限 HK$1,000 万，且住宅须单宗成交 ≥HK$3,000 万才计入。住满 7 年可申永居。CIES 已列入本站身份枢纽的待评分队列；REIT 与住宅条目本身按纯现金流评估。
Source: InvestHK；香港入境事务处（New CIES 规则）
Tax (investor level)
租金收入缴物业税：应课税净值（租金扣差饷与 20% 修葺免税额后）的 15%；无资本利得税。
- 买入印花税（2024-02-28 辣招全撤后）：全体买家统一 AVD 第二标准——≤HK$400 万仅 HK$100（2025-02-26 起），累进至 >HK$2,173.9 万的 4.25%；2026-02-26 起 >HK$1 亿住宅升至 6.5%。无任何外国人附加税。
Double-tax treaties: 不动产所得在来源地征税为通行原则；香港与新加坡无全面税收协定覆盖个人租金的特殊安排，按香港本地规则执行。
Source: 《印花税（修订）条例 2024》；香港税务局
This section is general information only — not immigration or tax advice. Program rules change frequently; before acting, rely on the official texts and a licensed adviser.
Risks: what could go wrong
What we have not verified yet
The following key figures have not yet been verified; the reason is noted for each item.
- The 1.8–2.4% net band is this site's costing: individual units' rates, management fees and voids vary widely — individual cases follow RVD class data and the mortgage quote at signing.
- Mortgage pricing of about 3.5% is a mainstream-bank research-date basis: the quote at signing governs.
FAQ
- Rents are at records — why is the yield still only 3.5%?
- Because prices rose too. Yield is annual rent divided by price: in 2025 the rental index rose 4.3% and the price index 3.25% — numerator and denominator moving together leaves the quotient still. Hong Kong residential's story is 'rents and prices repairing together', not 'rents outrunning prices' — for a rent-collector, it means the entry price has already banked most of the good rent news.
- After the 2024 abolition, is there any hidden foreigner tax left?
- No. The BSD (the foreigner-specific buyer duty), the SSD (short-hold resale) and the NRSD were all abolished on 28 Feb 2024; what remains is the unified AVD Scale 2 for all buyers, the 15% property tax on rents during the hold, and no capital-gains tax on exit. On Hong Kong's barrier list, tax has been crossed off — what remains is the price, the rate and the yield itself. Any agent still costing a "foreigner surcharge" for you is working from material at least two years old.
- No leverage, then — buy outright for rent?
- The negative carry disappears, but opportunity cost appears: an outright net of 1.8–2.4% faces Link's 6.2% run-rate on the same page (same currency, zero withholding, daily liquidity) and HKD deposit rates besides. An outright purchase for rent in Hong Kong is a decision to swap liquidity for a physical asset, comprehensively dominated on cash flow by the listed option on this page (entry No. 77) — the comparison is printed side by side for the reader to weigh.
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