• meeting expenses incurred in the provision of services to the public and Government departments out of the income of the trading fund, taking one year with another; and
  
  
• achieving a reasonable return, as determined by the Financial Secretary, on the average net fixed assets (ANFA) employed.

Actual Performance

When compared with 2008/09, the Land Registry's overall revenue increased by $67.9 million (up 15.2%) mainly due to revival in the property market. Operating expenses decreased by $3.0 million (down 0.9%) mainly due to lower depreciation charges.


Fee Reduction

To further promote the use of e-services, the Land Registry substantially reduced the application fee for opening an IRIS Online Services subscriber account from $2,000 to $1,000 with effect from 1 October 2009.

At the same time, the minimum deposit for settlement of search and copying services ordered in a subscriber account was reduced from $1,000 to $500 or an amount equivalent to two months' estimated transaction volume of the account, whichever is the higher.



Forecast

The Land Registry will continue to exercise strict control on costs. Additional expenditure is expected to be incurred for title registration.

Revenue and rate of return on fixed assets will depend mainly on transaction volumes in the property market. This in turn depends on wider economic factors and the trend of mortgage interest rates.

Nevertheless, we expect to be able to achieve the return, as determined by the Financial Secretary, on ANFA employed in the coming financial year.