准買唔准賣，結果是紙上富貴

I think if SSD is lifted it will probably cause drastic drop in prices, as the economy is really undergoing an eminent recession. Only people who holds operational jobs don't know what's happening. Please ask any sales people how secure they think their job is.

Welcome back, and hope you can share more experiences with us. 

Thank you

Due to family needs I start to learn about property investment since like 2 years ago. I travelled to several countries in Asia Pacific and start to build up the feeling to invest abroad, especially Brisbane, Melbourne or KL. I am glad to read what you posted above. Would you mind sharing more with me/us here your insights?

I also invested in the East Side of Melbourne.  However, Victoria government recently imposed new tax for overseas buyers and the mortgage for investment was also reduced.  There is also an over-supply in CBD and overall Australia took in less immigrant than the government expect.  Is it still worth to invest in Melbourne?  

It is an universal truth that buying property can be easily bought and easily sold; so, do not buy the one which gives you more than usual rental return but is hard to sell out, just like students' apartments overseas. Do buy the property which is both local residents and students' needs. Do not buy the high rise buildings which have a lot of units. Buy one near university or famous schools. It seems to be common sense. The average price for one bedroom (about 60msquare) unit with car space in Brisbane, Melbourne and Gold Coast is from $380000 to $420000 and the two bedrooms(90msquare) with car space is from $480000 to $600000. The location is very good. Most of the units provide the buyers with furniture such as stove, washing machine, etc.. Some serviced apartments even provide you with all furniture. It is very attractive. What the buyer does is to put down 10% deposit with about $1000 to $1500 solicitor fee, then wait for one to two years to do the settlement and the 10% will be kept in a trust account, which is supervised by the government and you will be given interest on this deposit when the settlement is done. Usually, the purchaser will borrow 60% to 80% from the banks in Hong Kong or local banks in Australia, which can be arranged by the property agency or the developers. The loan amount depends on your buying power. Buying seems to be easy because it only involves about HK$200000 to $300000 for the first installment. It depends on the currency rate.

In the past few years, I never discussed to buy properties in Australia because of the high and unreasonable currency (1A$=8.2HK$), and the properties in Hong Kong still had much chance to go up (for my own feelings). Now, the Australian currency is lower enough and the mortgage term is still "generous" for overseas buyers to buy properties in Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast. If you buy this year (pay 10% deposit and no need to pay any money until settlement), what do you expect the Australian currency change next year? Which is a very tricky question. If you can control it, you can make more money. Up to here, I have some important things to do. Sorry about that.

It also depends on demographics, those areas with properties with high mortgage rates would drop more than those areas that are fully paid. We're heading into recession right now and things don't look too good. History repeats itself but each time with variations.

If the Australian dollars drop to $1=$5 next year when you have to do settlement, I suggest that the purchaser should do the mortgage with HK$ in Hong Kong. For example, the purchasing price of the property is $400000, your mortgage at that time will be A$320000(80%)=HK$160000or A$280000(70%)=HK$140000, and your rental income is about A$400 (per week). It may cover your mortgage payment (estimated 2.5% for HK$ mortgage). If the Australian keeps on dropping to $4, what do you think about the property at that time? I dare to say that the property price at that time must be higher than your purchasing price. The currency fluctuates always have a cycle. You can hold your property until the Australian dollars up to your expected level such as $1=HK$6 or more, then selling your property; your profits will be double.

Don't believe that the property price in Australia will drop or rise up crazily. The price must be up secretly , and what I want to earn is the fluctuation of Australian dollars. As HK$ income earner, you have right to shift your mortgage currency. I did it 15 years ago and earned both the rising of property price and the rising of Australian currency. You may ask me what happen if the Australian dollars rise next year such as $1=HK$7. Then, you can have two choices. First, have your mortgage with Australian dollars with HK banks or local Australian banks. If the currency keeps on going up to $7.5 or $8. Then I advise you should sell your property to make profits even though the property price just rises up to 5%. Second, you may wait until the Australian dollars drop down to your expected level such as $5.5, then shift it to HK$ mortgage, and wait for rising up cycle of Australian dollars and sell it. You can engage in property and currency margin games; however, It is you not the bank can control it. It seems to be complicated, but it works. In addition, I have given up my investment in Sydney because of the property price and the difficulty in applying mortgage there. The government data shows that more than 10,000 residents move to Brisbane from Sydney each year. Melbourne is still good even though it imposed 3% more stamp duty on overseas buyer in July because of its city planning and the best suitable place for people to reside. For Brisbane Gold Coast, I think that they are going to catch up Sydney and Melbourne. What I consider is the up and down of Australian currency not the property price (which is always stable) in Australia. Thank you for seeing my sharing. Goodnight!

呢幾年,樓有近50%升幅, take profit的誘因太大!

咁多壞消息,誰又知不會見頂!

如不是ssd鎖住而個市未爆先靜觀其變!

樓...如下跌.... 好可能好多人已寧願比ssd,也要sell!

最緊要lock住profit! 減一點不是問題!

股市上.....我呢d, 叫做 bullish bear! ^^

very practical.. better than those "professional" advices from property agencie's bosses