Hong Kong investor looking beyond asking prices

[XaviReed]

Getting the assumptions wrong at the start could make a first purchase look affordable when it is not. I’m in Hong Kong and mainly follow apartments, with a particular interest in actual sale evidence, mortgage options, transaction costs and ongoing management.

I’d like to understand how people compare those items across different markets without treating unlike figures as equivalent. Should I begin with recent Hong Kong threads, the mortgage discussions or the property-management board?

 

[loft.balanced]

Welcome. I’d start on the local board and work backwards through recent apartment discussions. Market-data posts are useful, but only when people distinguish asking prices from completed prices and state which transaction costs they included. After that, the investment-modelling and mortgage-comparison threads should give you a framework for comparing Hong Kong with other markets.

 

[reviewTheBirch]

I’d reverse that order slightly. Before reading too many market opinions, write down what you are trying to compare: purchase cost, financing, renovation, ongoing management, or eventual resale. Otherwise figures from different markets can look comparable when they measure different things. Are you considering a first purchase, or mainly building a model for now? That would determine whether legal checklists or property-management discussions are the better next stop.