Mortgage

Ping An move points to curbs on property

28 Feb 2013

A move by Ping An Bank to ban its regional branches from approving mortgages may signal that Beijing is set to tighten controls on the property market to calm record prices, sources said yesterday...

Beijing creates a generation of housing slaves

27 Feb 2013

Mainland media have dubbed a generation of middle class "fang nu", or housing slaves, a reference to the lifetime of work they needed to pay off their debts. They are taking on mortgages even as...

Housing affordability improves in Canada in fourth quarter

27 Feb 2013

Small declines in home prices and mortgage rates made Canadian home ownership slightly more affordable in the fourth quarter of 2012, the second straight improvement, and soft home buyer demand...

Homebuyers may face tougher mortgage stress test

20 Feb 2013

Miranda Kwok, the chief executive and president of China Construction Bank (Asia) in Hong Kong, said a tougher stress test would be an option for the regulators if the government got worried about...

Canadian homes 10pc overvalued, says IMF

20 Feb 2013

The International Monetary Fund, in its annual report on Canada, warns that authorities may have to intervene a fifth time in the mortgage market if personal debt levels do not stabilise.

Opinion

Jake Van Der Kamp

An age-old problem and the sums that just don't add up

Howard Winn

HSBC suffers the Taibbi treatment in Rolling Stone

Shirley Yam

How tycoons' IPO 'losses' may hide profits at herd's expense

Swiss banks told to rein in lending or face restrictions as bubble fears grow

Switzerland's government, at the urging of the Swiss National Bank, last week ordered banks to hold additional capital as a buffer against risks posed by the country's biggest property boom in two...

Increased interest from buyers pushes British home prices to 5-year high

Prices sought rose 2.8 per cent from January to £235,741 (HK$2.82 million), property listing giant Rightmove said in a report published this week. They increased 1.1 per cent from a year earlier....

Mainland property cooling measures possible if home prices rise

Data from the China Index Academy shows that the average price of a new home in 100 major cities recorded an eighth successive month-on-month rise in January, to 9,812 yuan (HK$12,190) per square...

Standard & Poor's looks secure despite US government lawsuit

The Department of Justice accuses McGraw-Hill and its subsidiary Standard & Poor's of deliberately understating the risk of bonds backed by mortgages made to the riskiest borrowers, in order...

BRITAIN

Bank of England's lending scheme fuels rise in Britain's house prices

Data showed mortgage approvals rose to an 11-month high in December as the central bank's Funding for Lending Scheme eased conditions in the home-loan market. The bank is counting on the programme...

Q & A with our experts

Q: I am an expat who is currently renting an apartment in North Point. But the lease will expire soon and I am planning to move to Wan Chai which is more vibrant. With a budget of less than HK$20,...