Buying in Hong Kong
- Thread starter china
- Start date
Caught up with friend on weekend who said total cost was AUS $25,000 for
total strip out and tile similar to tiles in pic above, new kitchen/bathroom
aircom/hotwater-gas and paint for 2 bedroom.
His advice was to make sure you have an Asian friend to do the negotiation
with builder as there is a price difference for Caucasians.
total strip out and tile similar to tiles in pic above, new kitchen/bathroom
aircom/hotwater-gas and paint for 2 bedroom.
His advice was to make sure you have an Asian friend to do the negotiation
with builder as there is a price difference for Caucasians.
thank you!
sorry, haven't been visiting SS in a while. many thanks to all the reply and information.
Melbournian - just tried the link and got a message that server is full (when trying to access an episode). but will try again later. l'escargot - a very fitting name for 7 people crammed in 70sqm
it's very interesting to see what people can do with minimal space that they have. i've seen rooms where one could hop on straight to bed from the doorway, it must have been 2m x 2.5m or something.
propertyVIC - we're in happy valley too! thanks for the tips re. lamma and village houses. i'll check the place out. you're right that 'western style' apt is very hard to find unless looking at really exxy places. and like you pointed out, kitchen is usually the area most lacking...some just a one-tub sink with few doors cupboard and cooktop!
MrPloppy - thanks for the informative post and pics! much appreciated. great price! i'm amazed at the HUGE differences before & after, esp. to the kitchen area.
nww - thanks for the tips for negotiation. we're of se-asian background and can speak some mandarin (hubby much better than me). but most probably would need some help from cantonese speakers come nego time, otherwise we may get the inflated mainlander price
sorry, haven't been visiting SS in a while. many thanks to all the reply and information.
Melbournian - just tried the link and got a message that server is full (when trying to access an episode). but will try again later. l'escargot - a very fitting name for 7 people crammed in 70sqm
it's very interesting to see what people can do with minimal space that they have. i've seen rooms where one could hop on straight to bed from the doorway, it must have been 2m x 2.5m or something.
propertyVIC - we're in happy valley too!
thanks for the tips re. lamma and village houses. i'll check the place out. you're right that 'western style' apt is very hard to find unless looking at really exxy places. and like you pointed out, kitchen is usually the area most lacking...some just a one-tub sink with few doors cupboard and cooktop! MrPloppy - thanks for the informative post and pics! much appreciated. great price! i'm amazed at the HUGE differences before & after, esp. to the kitchen area.
nww - thanks for the tips for negotiation. we're of se-asian background and can speak some mandarin (hubby much better than me). but most probably would need some help from cantonese speakers come nego time, otherwise we may get the inflated mainlander price
If you want a big house, should live in Clear Water Bay and the likes. A$1m gets you a decent place.
Interesting thread
The start date was 1987, so up to 2012 that's 25 years.
I don't think any australian property has grown that much in this same period.
Yes it's a nice return over 25yrs from about AU$3.5m to AU$125m
So if past history is any indicator of future performance, it may be better to put money in hong kong than in oz
I thin k you are intimidated by the large numbers
Personally we bought a block of units for $360,000 with end value of $1,800,000 return of 14.35% over 12 years. This is in Cabramatta.
I am sure there are plenty of better better returns that people have achieved.
It's possible anywhere when you buy well and hold for a extended time.
Cheers
Did you do renos on the units or was it pure CG over time?
I think a reno's over any substantial time frame is irrelevant to the CG.
As long as the property is not run down then any reno's will not impact the CG over 10+ years. The reno results used to make a big difference to the returns but currently there is very little difference in the rents that can be achieved.
For instance, we reno our properties and when we first started we would increase the rental returns substantially but now we are lucky to increase our weekly rent by more than 10-15% simply because the market is not prepared to pay a premium for a reno'd unit. Also there are now so many like units that it becomes the norm.
My believe is that with this particular block of units the gain is just the market gain whether reno'd or not. You would have had to spend money over the period simply fighting normal aging and deterioration.
The building in the HK example would have had the same wear and tear aspects as any other property.
Cheers
As long as the property is not run down then any reno's will not impact the CG over 10+ years. The reno results used to make a big difference to the returns but currently there is very little difference in the rents that can be achieved.
For instance, we reno our properties and when we first started we would increase the rental returns substantially but now we are lucky to increase our weekly rent by more than 10-15% simply because the market is not prepared to pay a premium for a reno'd unit. Also there are now so many like units that it becomes the norm.
My believe is that with this particular block of units the gain is just the market gain whether reno'd or not. You would have had to spend money over the period simply fighting normal aging and deterioration.
The building in the HK example would have had the same wear and tear aspects as any other property.
Cheers
Thread here with a poll on a HK expats forum about buying an apartment in HK.. 61% think the market is too hot.
http://www.discoverybayforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb231/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1352655906
http://www.discoverybayforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb231/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1352655906
Just a bit of update on the market, HK gov has added an extra 15% stamp duty for property purchases by companies and non-permanent residents. There is also 10-20% stamp duty for selling within 2y of buying.
This essentially makes buy-reno-sell undoable anymore. As for buy & hold, a non-PR will be down 15% on the way in. Tough.
This essentially makes buy-reno-sell undoable anymore. As for buy & hold, a non-PR will be down 15% on the way in. Tough.
they're doing it in singapore as well.. trying to stop the heating market from speculators.
at least they're doing something - in jakarta, indonesia - properties are rose 30% and the government isn't doing much to soften it.
at least they're doing something - in jakarta, indonesia - properties are rose 30% and the government isn't doing much to soften it.
Asia is going bananas I actually moved to HK a few years ago and have been buying here ever since, my first place I bought in 2008 has almost gone up 100%, it's really nuts.
all positive cashflow still (yields ~3.5% financing at ~1.3%) but capital values have gone really crazy, i'm actually cycling money out of HK right now and looking to buy in the USA.
also the government has put endless policies in the last 4 years to try to curb the boom unsuccessfully. examples are a 15% expat tax to stop mainland chinese buying (unfortunately it effects other expats too), when i first moved here i could leverage 85% forinvestment property now it's just 50%.
If you buy to live in max leverage is 70% and if you buy over certain values (think it's $8m HKD so around $1m AUD). they lower the leverage ratio in more.
to give u an idea how crazy it is here last one i bought was 2011 in august around 1.5 years ago, I paid $400k AUD for a 410 square foot (yes square foot no meters) apartment, recent transaction prices are $640k AUD.
all positive cashflow still (yields ~3.5% financing at ~1.3%) but capital values have gone really crazy, i'm actually cycling money out of HK right now and looking to buy in the USA.
also the government has put endless policies in the last 4 years to try to curb the boom unsuccessfully. examples are a 15% expat tax to stop mainland chinese buying (unfortunately it effects other expats too), when i first moved here i could leverage 85% forinvestment property now it's just 50%.
If you buy to live in max leverage is 70% and if you buy over certain values (think it's $8m HKD so around $1m AUD). they lower the leverage ratio in more.
to give u an idea how crazy it is here last one i bought was 2011 in august around 1.5 years ago, I paid $400k AUD for a 410 square foot (yes square foot no meters) apartment, recent transaction prices are $640k AUD.
Buying in America.. Best of luck, hoping you have a cracker of a property manager.
Latest loophole for avoiding residential buyer and seller taxes is to designate hotel rooms as apartments. I guess it beats sleeping in a car space but its not good for the already high prices here. Damn you Li Ka-shing
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154218/loophole-could-spark-rush-buy-hotel-rooms?
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_print.asp?art_id=131294&sid=
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154218/loophole-could-spark-rush-buy-hotel-rooms?
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_print.asp?art_id=131294&sid=
