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2020 - Buying Property in HK

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  1. #61

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    Quote Originally Posted by walkup:
    If its a walkup, banks tend to undervalue. The guide which agents most rely on is the price per square foot asked for/realised in the immediate area for equivalent properties. Also liquidity in the market. Even if a bank pushed up valuation by 5% you might have to drop below that to secure a sale. It is not a seller's market currently.
    Naturally mine isn't (online valutions), but important for people to know if they're considering buying.... The extra burden of finding a deposit for the undervalued portion of an older building can be a killer.

    Also true when buying on outlying islands like Lamma = undervaluations.

    What about villages houses in the NT, they're typically undervalued too?

  2. #62

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    Quote Originally Posted by LoganH:
    HSBC and Citibank and I believe many other valuations use the same company, Debenham Tie Leung (DTZ). Thus, if you just want a general idea one online bank valuation is sufficient (and most likely they'll return the same since they use the same valuation company).
    I was wrong. HSBC uses Cushman & Wakefield Limited for at least their fairly easy to use online valuation tool. Citibank's online website valuation tool also uses Cushman & Wakefield Limited (thus same result with the same company).
    However, Citibank HK's app (Help->Property Valuation) uses DTZ. However, for my property they returned the exact same information. Which led me to think maybe they are actually one company, which led me to https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...bc356b65d.html

    Anyway, when buying a property that isn't easily valued with an online tool it gets complicated. Cash is king for buyers, and you'll just have to figure out the best price that you can get. Good luck.
    Sage likes this.

  3. #63

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    Quote Originally Posted by LoganH:
    I was wrong. HSBC uses Cushman & Wakefield Limited for at least their fairly easy to use online valuation tool. Citibank's online website valuation tool also uses Cushman & Wakefield Limited (thus same result with the same company).
    However, Citibank HK's app (Help->Property Valuation) uses DTZ. However, for my property they returned the exact same information. Which led me to think maybe they are actually one company, which led me to https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...bc356b65d.html

    Anyway, when buying a property that isn't easily valued with an online tool it gets complicated. Cash is king for buyers, and you'll just have to figure out the best price that you can get. Good luck.
    So here's a question for you Logan, when banks provide a formal valuation for a mortgage (rather than merely the online valuations), do you know what additional criteria they are looking at above and beyond the basic valuations provided by Cushman?

  4. #64

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sage:
    So here's a question for you Logan, when banks provide a formal valuation for a mortgage (rather than merely the online valuations), do you know what additional criteria they are looking at above and beyond the basic valuations provided by Cushman?
    This is a good question, but I'm not a banker approving mortgages. I'd guess they might use something like the online valuation first, but I think many banks have their own internal valuation tool that relevant employees can access. If you're looking at a specific property I'd simply ask the bank staff if they can shed more light on their valuation.

    Valuations are also only one piece of the pie, and I've heard and read elsewhere that at least some banks have a ~10% valuation discretion when approving a mortgage based on that valuation.

    If you're getting a mortgage on a place in a big estate, I'd say the online valuations will probably be closer to what you'll get, but if you buy a village house the bank might take longer and undervalue the property partially because of of a low amount of similar transactions.
    Sage likes this.

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