Not easy to follow HK, S'pore property moves

[HONG KONG] Take a look at the world's dizzying surges in the price of housing for 12 months at the end of June: London, up 20 per cent. Manhattan, 18 per cent. Sydney, 15.4 per cent.

Then there are Singapore and Hong Kong: down 3.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent.

Prompted by concerns over potential property bubbles and affordability for the middle class, the governments of the two Asian cities have been reining in home prices by imposing measures including mortgage caps, taxes on property flippers, and levies on foreign buyers as high as 15 per cent.

"Hong Kong has successfully cooled down the market in terms of transa…