Mortgage in Hong Kong

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  1. #1

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    Mortgage in Hong Kong

    Hi All,

    My Fiance and I are moving to Hong Kong in August. We are thinking of buying a boat or small apartment when we arrive.

    We will need a loan for this so have been looking at HSBC mortgages. We want a loan where we can make extra payments over the minimum monthly payment to hopefully reduce the loan amount as quickly as possible.

    Does anyone have any experience with loans like this? Also what % of the total loan would we need as a down payment?

    Tnx


  2. #2

  3. #3

    Join Date
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    For property, you'll need at least a 30% deposit, maybe higher if its a "luxury" property with a value over a certain amount. I have no idea about boats, sorry.

    Extra repayments are OK, but some banks charge an admin fee of a fixed amount (eg $1000) each time you do this. There are also some other types of accounts like "Family link" where your whole family can link their savings accounts to your mortgage and whatever balance you have in the savings accounts will reduce the mortgage and interest you pay.


  4. #4

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    It seems for the first few years you have to pay the fixed amounts, you can't make any additional prepayments without penalties, but after the first few years you can. That is how my Hang Seng mortgage works. First three years, no prepayment or repayment without penalty, but after that period, I can prepay or repay as I feel free.


  5. #5

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    unless you have a mortgage with a link to your account (like Family Like or mortgage one with SC...) then all money deposited on those accounts reduce your amount of interest (well to be clear all money on those accounts is receiving the same interest that you pay on your mortgage, thereby helping you to "reduce" the interests you pay)


  6. #6

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    But I should add, I'm currently paying 0.9% interest rate (H + 0.7%). I DO NOT WANT to make any extra repayments at all under these conditions. I'll invest my extra money in shares, RMB deposits, time deposits, etc. Even if you are super conservative, you can easily find much better uses of your money than to repay off a mortgage at this rate. If the bank is crazy enough to give me money for almost free, Im not going to be in any rush to pay it back


  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    But I should add, I'm currently paying 0.9% interest rate (H + 0.7%). I DO NOT WANT to make any extra repayments at all under these conditions. I'll invest my extra money in shares, RMB deposits, time deposits, etc. Even if you are super conservative, you can easily find much better uses of your money than to repay off a mortgage at this rate. If the bank is crazy enough to give me money for almost free, Im not going to be in any rush to pay it back
    Yeh, but you are one of the lucky ones. Rates now are 3%+ if you in the market for a new mortgage. You would be lucky to find anything below 2.5% these days.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    But I should add, I'm currently paying 0.9% interest rate (H + 0.7%). I DO NOT WANT to make any extra repayments at all under these conditions. I'll invest my extra money in shares, RMB deposits, time deposits, etc. Even if you are super conservative, you can easily find much better uses of your money than to repay off a mortgage at this rate. If the bank is crazy enough to give me money for almost free, Im not going to be in any rush to pay it back
    Yeah me too (a bit more than 0.9 but still super low)...I have to say, this is one decision I do not regret at all ;-)

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Yeh, but you are one of the lucky ones. Rates now are 3%+ if you in the market for a new mortgage. You would be lucky to find anything below 2.5% these days.
    Are Hibor mortgages that high now? So there is no longer much of a gap between Hibor and Prime?

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    Are Hibor mortgages that high now? So there is no longer much of a gap between Hibor and Prime?
    Yep, afraid so. Was looking to remortgage with a lower Hibor rate, but not getting much love. In fact SCB's Hibor mortgages now carry a higher rate than their prime rate.

    The best Mreferral could do me for was 2.4% (and I'm on 2.1% at present with a prime mortgage). But it was that low because I was only looking for about HK$1million.