The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, with The Hong Kong Association of Banks, The Law Society of Hong Kong and the Estate Agents Authority, announced the expansion of the Payment Arrangements for Property Transactions (PAPT) to cover sale and purchase of residential properties in Hong Kong’s secondary market, effective from 28 February 2026. Under PAPT, the buyer’s mortgage loan proceeds are transferred to the seller’s bank via the interbank electronic payment system, allowing the seller to receive sale proceeds on the completion day at the earliest, instead of settlement through solicitors’ accounts using physical cheques. Mortgage banks will provide PAPT for eligible secondary-market transactions with provisional sale and purchase agreements signed on or after 28 February 2026, and parties can request their estate agents to include relevant clauses in the provisional agreement; solicitors will provide legal advice on the payment arrangement. PAPT was introduced for residential mortgage refinancing in November 2022, with more than 15,000 transactions completed to date and over 75% of eligible refinancing transactions using it over the past six months; the conventional cheque-based process generally results in sale proceeds being received two working days after completion. The banking industry has updated systems, processes and internal guidelines and is running frontline training for implementation, while HKAB has published a public leaflet introducing PAPT for secondary-market sale and purchase transactions.

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