Buying in Hong Kong vs the UK: costs and taxes

For a Brit, buying in Hong Kong has rarely been cheaper on paper. The catch is on the way back: owning that flat can make your next UK purchase noticeably dearer.

The short version

Since 28 February 2024, a British buyer pays the same ad valorem stamp duty as a Hong Kong permanent resident [6]. A home up to HK$4 million pays a flat HK$100.
England charges Brits abroad more: a 2% surcharge if you're non-resident, and 5% on top if you'll own another home anywhere in the world, your Hong Kong flat included [1][2].
Banks can lend up to 70% of the value on any home in Hong Kong, under HKMA rules from October 2024 [9].
Hong Kong has no capital gains tax on an ordinary home sale. The UK taxes non-residents on UK property gains, with a 60-day return [3].
Letting your UK home from Hong Kong brings in the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme and form NRL1 [5].

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = HKD 10.57).

What a Brit can buy in Hong Kong, compared

There are no nationality restrictions on buying a flat in Hong Kong. Visitors, workers on an employment visa and BN(O) holders can all buy. What's different is the land: almost all land in Hong Kong is held from the government under a government lease rather than owned outright, and a flat is an undivided share in the building plus the right to occupy your unit, governed by a deed of mutual covenant. Day to day it feels like owning a flat back home, with a management company in place of a freeholder. Our Hong Kong property guide covers the buying steps.

In England and Wales, houses are usually freehold and flats leasehold, and anyone can buy either. Scotland has its own ownership system. So the shapes are familiar; the price per square metre is not.

Upfront costs side by side

Take a compact flat at HK$3.17 million (about £300,000) and a £300,000 house in England, then a more typical family flat at HK$6 million (about £567,900).

	Hong Kong	England, £300,000 house
Main purchase tax	Ad valorem stamp duty, same scale for all buyers since 28 February 2024 [6]	Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), banded [1]
At about £300,000	HK$100 (about £9.50) on a HK$3.17 million flat	£5,000 for a UK resident buying their only home [1]
Non-resident or foreign surcharge	None since February 2024	2% on top: £11,000 in total [1]
Owning another home	No effect on stamp duty	Higher rates, 5% on top: £20,000, or £26,000 if you're also non-resident [2]
At HK$6 million	2.25%: HK$135,000 (about £12,800) [6]	n/a
Charged on	The sale and purchase agreement, at the higher of price or value; the later assignment pays HK$100 [6]	The purchase price

So for the same money, Hong Kong stamp duty can be almost nothing. The rates then step up through 1.5%, 2.25%, 3%, 3.75% and 4.25%, with a 6.5% band on homes above about HK$109.6 million from 26 February 2026 [6].

The pinch comes when you buy back home. HMRC's higher rates apply if you'll own residential property worth £40,000 or more anywhere in the world after the purchase [2]. Keep the Hong Kong flat, buy a house in Cheltenham, and you're on the additional-home rates. If you also spent fewer than 183 days in the UK in the 12 months before buying, add the 2% non-resident surcharge [1]. If the new UK house replaces your main home and you sell the old one within three years, you can claim back the higher-rate part [2].

Scotland and Wales run their own taxes: Land and Buildings Transaction Tax with a flat-rate Additional Dwelling Supplement for extra homes in Scotland, and Land Transaction Tax with higher residential rates in Wales. Neither has a non-resident surcharge. Our guide to buying UK property from abroad sets out the bands.

Financing: Hong Kong bank or UK lender?

In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) relaxed its limits in October 2024 [9]:

Loan-to-value: up to 70% for all residential property, whether you live in it or let it, whatever the price.
Debt-servicing ratio: repayments can't exceed 50% of monthly income, for self-use and investment homes alike.

Banks add their own checks, and borrowers paid mainly from outside Hong Kong should ask how each bank treats that income. On a HK$6 million flat, a 30% deposit is HK$1.8 million (about £170,400), plus stamp duty and legal fees. Most Hong Kong mortgages float with HIBOR or the bank's prime rate, a bit like a tracker back home.

Back home, many high-street lenders won't lend to Brits living abroad or count a salary in Hong Kong dollars. Specialist lenders and private banks will, usually with a bigger deposit. The Hong Kong dollar is linked to the US dollar, not the pound, so a sterling mortgage repaid from HKD income can count as a foreign currency loan under FCA rules. See UK mortgages for Brits living abroad.

Owning it: property tax and running costs

Hong Kong has two bills charged on the rateable value, the Rating and Valuation Department's estimate of a year's open-market rent:

Rates: 5% of the rateable value for 2026/27 on homes with a rateable value up to HK$550,000, with progressive charges above that [7].
Government rent: 3% of the rateable value, under the Government Rent (Assessment and Collection) Ordinance [8]. Not every flat pays it; it depends on the land lease.

On a flat with a rateable value of HK$240,000 (rent of about HK$20,000 a month), that's HK$12,000 in rates (about £1,140) and HK$7,200 in government rent (about £680) a year. Add the management fee to the building.

Let the flat and property tax applies to the rent: 15% of the net assessable value, which is the rent less any rates you pay and a flat 20% allowance for repairs [10]. On HK$20,000 a month with the tenant paying rates, that's HK$28,800 a year (about £2,730) [10].

Back home, council tax is due on the UK house whether you live there or not, and many councils in England and Wales add a premium on furnished second homes and long-term empty homes. Let it instead, and the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme applies: your letting agent, or a tenant paying more than £100 a week, must take basic rate tax off the rent unless HMRC has told them in writing to pay you gross [5]. Apply on form NRL1, and file a UK return each year. See renting out your UK home.

Tax when you sell

The Hong Kong side

Hong Kong doesn't tax capital gains, so selling a home you've lived in normally costs you agent's commission and legal fees, not tax. The extra duties that used to hit quick resales went in February 2024 along with the other cooling measures. The exception is trading: if the Inland Revenue Department decides you bought to resell for profit, the gain can be taxed as business profits.

The UK side

Selling UK property as a non-resident. Report every sale on a Capital Gains Tax on UK property return within 60 days of completion, even if no tax is due, and pay any tax in the same 60 days [3]. For 2026/27, gains are taxed at 18% within the basic rate band and 24% above it, with a £3,000 tax-free allowance [4].
Private residence relief still covers the years you lived in the UK home plus the final nine months, but a year abroad only counts if you spent at least 90 nights there. See selling UK property as a non-resident.
Selling the Hong Kong flat. While you're non-UK resident, a gain on foreign property is normally outside UK tax. Sell after you've moved back and HMRC taxes the worldwide gain at 18% or 24% [4], measured in pounds. A short spell abroad (five years or less) can bring gains on assets you owned before leaving back into charge in your year of return. After at least 10 tax years away, the 4-year foreign income and gains regime may give relief on foreign gains in your first four years back, at the cost of your tax-free allowances.
The treaty. The UK and Hong Kong have a double taxation agreement, in force since December 2010. With no Hong Kong tax on an ordinary gain, there's usually nothing to credit against a UK bill.

Which makes sense for whom

On a short posting. Renting usually wins on flexibility, and owning a flat here can push you onto England's higher rates when you buy back home.
Settling down, perhaps as a permanent resident. Low stamp duty on smaller flats, 70% mortgages and no tax on an ordinary gain make buying more tempting than it was.
BN(O) families heading to the UK. Think about the order of sales: owning a Hong Kong flat when you buy in England changes the stamp duty bill.
Keeping the UK house. Sort NRL1, keep the 60-day clock in mind and check what your council charges on an empty home.

Members of our community group for Brits in Hong Kong have bought on both sides and are happy to compare notes. A tax adviser who knows both places can check your case.

Buying in Hong Kong vs back in the UK: same stamp duty as locals, different taxman