Hong Kong (CNN) -- Many of Hong Kong's foreign residents will have to think twice before buying a new home in this Asian financial hub. In a surprise move last month to curb skyrocketing property prices, the Hong Kong government announced the immediate implementation of a 15% property tax on all home purchases -- by foreigners. The fallout has been fast. "I think it's a harsh measure," says Brock Little, an Australian who has called Hong Kong home the past six years. Little, a realtor with local agency Island Property, says the anti-foreigner tax has priced some of his western clients out of the market.
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Foreigners are taxed additional 15% for purchasing new homes in Hong Kong
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New property tax comes after 9% of home purchases by mainland Chinese
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Chinese would-be home buyer calls new policy "unfair"
"Over the past two years and three quarters, we roughly estimate about 9% of the buyers (of @placeholder property) are from the mainland," says Lau.