Hong Kong appartment rent is more and more expensive.
Have you ever thought of buying appartment?
I have been near Yuen Long at Hung Shui Kiu to see a new village.
It seems quite interesting.
DO you think it is the right time to buy or should I wait one more year and pay high rate rent?

I personally thought about it and decided to NOT buy.  I'm convinced the market is inflated.  Hyper inflated.

   yes, its the right time but on the other hand it might not !!!

You REALLY want to get replies on you buying/not buying an apartment - probably one of your most expensive/largest pruchases in your life time - from a bunch of MONGERS??!!

Good luck bro...Good luck!!

SEAJ

my advice is the market is hardly going to drop anymore than it has done now, so if you are one of the few lucky ones who can get a mortgage then go for it, but do not look for app's in city's look for ones around the "new territories" and just outside the city center, as you'll get a bigger place for less the money

You have to do your own research bro.

Different areas will have their own good/bad pts. Location & transport will still be some of the most impt factors to consider.

I would say it's cheaper to rent than buy at the moment. Housing prices in HK have shot up so much over the past few years that people who bought 4 to 5 years ago will make close to 60% profit (depending on district and are way above 1997 prices - the last property price peak in HK). The government has made measures to cool the market without any success.

My advice would be to wait it out for the time being until prices start to come down. However, doesn't seem like they will ever come down.

Yep, the right time to buy from the seller's perspective. On Bloomberg this morning it mentioned that hk has the most expensive property in the world, with moscow and london sitting in second and third respectively.

I don't know SEAJ.  It might not be a bad idea to ask financial questions on this forum.  The mongers here seem pretty smart.  If we weren't financially savvy, where would we get all this money for mongering?

Great time because:-
  market is still active in spite of all the cooling measures
  HK Govt reliance on land revenue makes it complicit in keeping prices high
  50% equity down pretty much assures that buyers are relatively secure financially
  US dollar peg means HKD will depreciate in step with USD for the forseeable future
  low low low interest rates means most of the money you pay to the bank (instead of to a landlord) rolls up as equity
  HK's position as stable financial situation and ongoing attractiveness for Asia Regional Head Offices
  rising population in HK creating more demand, and high % of PRC buyers at the top end of the market pushing buyers down the value chain

us who already have bot - will of course say BUY BUY BUY! the higher the rpice the merrier

us who have not already bot/wanting to buy - will of course say Don't buy, its unsutainable, crazy prices - and drive the prices down.

No??

SEAJ

The Chinese way!  Good time if market goes up, not if market goes down.

Irrational exuberance!  Let ride baby, one more time!

IF anyone really know the answer to that question, mongering budget would not be a problem.

Che'lu

[ Last edited by  chelu at 18-4-2011 16:22 ]

Yes I read that in the paper, if I remember rightly it has only recently taken over London?

Or that might be just commercial. I recently decided against it, just because I am not sure how much longer I will be here, I decided to buy back in the UK - as more and more people are renting back there.

I'm curious to know who's advise you'll be taking and carrying out ?

If this is your primary home, I strongly suggest you do not try to time the market as part of your purchasing decision and focus more on your personal finances and situation. Countless number of people got into big trouble in the US in 2008 because they thought the housing market was hot and that real estate could never go down.

hope hk isnt like USA where housing went down badly due to bad mortgage rates that people could not afford to pay when the economic was down and no jobs resulted in housing that you can buy almost with nothing couple of 1000s and you got a house hopefully hk is more stable then us north america

hk isn't like USA, period!!

I'm finding it hard even to find a single point of comparison between HK and USA ... unless you start comparing Manhattan psf prices to HK, you can come close ... but on other dynamics they might as well be on different continents ... oh, wait, they ARE on different continents

financing structures
legal framework
supply and demand
cultural expectations
relationship with government
... most measures seem more different than similar ...

NOT to say prices can't go down here - frankly HK property prices are much more volatile than in US - and most definitely can go down.  

Word of caution would be not to try too hard to evaluate "The Market" as a whole.  Reality is that there are many markets in property, and it is frequently the case that one segment is going up while another is going down.  You have to specialise, and get to know one or two niches that you particularly like.

Interesting comment you gave there - in regards to my statement that an apartment purchase is " ...probably one of your most expensive/largest purchases in your life time...."

Now, unles a guy regularly goes and buy companies, I personally cannot think what other purchases in one's lifetime could constitute a more expensive item.

And the way house prices are in Hong Kong, even taking over companies/starting businesses many times requires less than the price of a house.

Even guys who buy airplanes, super blink jewelry, yachts etc - such items usually will cost less than his main house - so I'm really curious as to your comment.

SEAJ
Ps edit - as far as similarities with the U.S. pre-2007 and Hong Kong right now - think Cheap credit and price bubble; and sooner later QE2, (or even QE3 if it actually come to pass) ....is going to be over and replaced with higher - much higher - interest rates to rein in inflation.

[ Last edited by  SEAJ at 18-4-2011 21:15 ]

I think there are many good exchange from your side.
Thank you all for your great advise.
I have heard that the market is tend to have a slight decreasing. Have you heard about it?
That is for sure for me a great time to study the offer and to compare with the rent proposal.
For an employee, not that easy to pay for the rent if it goes higher and higher.
At the end if you buy, the apartment will be later yours.

don't forget feng shui and other superstitious factos that come to play! One thing I know if you like it personally, it doesn't mean it is marketable to the locals or even the other buyers.  In nyc, I known some buildings are far more favorable to foreigners than locals...or vice versa