Hong Kong Land Registry: Fixed Asset Return of the Operating Fund Rebounds Sharply to 3.7% in 2025-26

On October 28, the Hong Kong Land Registry published the 2025-26 annual report of the Land Registry Trading Fund. Land Registrar Lu Ka-kin said: In 2025-26, the department's revenue and profit (including interest income) increased by 11.1% to HK$443.7 million and by 580.8% to HK$71.4 million respectively, mainly due to an increase in the number of instruments delivered, which drove up income from document registration, as well as adjustments to fees for a number of registration services starting from July 2025. The fixed asset return rate of the Trading Fund's overall finances was 3.7%, rebounding sharply from -12.3% in 2024-25. We will continue to strengthen cost control through efficiency enhancement measures and streamlined workflows. Lu Ka-kin said that significant progress had been made in extending the title registration system to new land. Following the Legislative Council's passage of the Land Titles and Land Registration (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2025 in September 2025, the department is fully preparing for the implementation of the title registration system. The Government submitted subsidiary legislation to the Legislative Council on October 21 this year and is planning publicity and education activities for the public and industry stakeholders, with a view to implementing the title registration system for new land in the first half of 2027. Regarding the conversion of existing land to the title registration system, the Land Registry has commenced an internal study to assess, through sample screening, the scope and types of title problems in the existing 3 million land registers, so as to formulate a feasible conversion proposal. The Government briefed the Legislative Council Panel on Development in July this year on the preliminary results of the screening and its preliminary views on the conversion proposal. The department's target is, after implementing the title registration system for new land, to formulate a conversion proposal and discuss it with stakeholders, with a view to gradually extending the system to existing land. The department expects that the experience accumulated after implementing the title registration system for new land will help all parties reach consensus on the conversion mechanism. To align with the Government's vision of leveraging artificial intelligence and digital technology to optimize public services, the Land Registry, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Digital Policy Office, expanded in January this year the coverage of the application programming interface launched for financial institutions to include access to property information under owners' names, further enhancing these institutions' digital access capabilities. The department has also commenced a proof-of-concept study on the use of artificial intelligence in screening the title chains of the existing 3 million land registers, to facilitate the conversion of existing land from the deeds registration system to the title registration system. At the same time, the department is developing a new system for electronic submission of registration applications to support online registration applications under the title registration system to be implemented in 2027.