Hong Kong authorities have decided to tighten mortgage lending and announced their intention to increase the amount of land offered for sale under construction, to cool the overheated real estate market. Down payment when purchasing homes valued from 12 million Hong Kong dollars ($ 1,540,000) increase from 30% to 40% of the cost of housing, said head of Monetary Authority (Central Bank) Hong Kong Norman Chan. These changes take effect immediately, according to Interfax. According to Chan, in the next year the Government will increase the amount of land sold for construction. The Minister of Finance of Hong Kong John Tsang said the government may take further steps to "cooling" housing market. Since early 2009, housing prices in Hong Kong grew by 45%.
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