During the recession, people try to invest their money to fight with soaring inflation. Among the areas of investment property investment has been one of the most popular options due to the fact that property prices tend to go up over years and also properties have rental income. At the end of the day, people need a place to stay and commercial properties to do their business.
Buying the right property has always been a challenge for investors, as it is not a small investment, one shall consider their options carefully. Will my property be able to gain value in a short time? Does it have the ability to appreciate? Will I be able to handle all the paperwork? What if things can go wrong, how can I prevent this?
Especially in Hong Kong, many investors turn their eyes to developing countries such as Vietnam and Thailand. One reason is that property prices are lower, while the economies are in the booming stage, so the property value tends to increase much higher compared to Hong Kong’s mature property market. Also for more risk-averse investors safe havens like UK property have been a popular option as a second home.
We wanted to learn more about investment property overseas, why is it so popular among people in Hong Kong, and also risks and how to prevent them and choose the right property.
So when we try to do research we see it is not a simple task indeed, going to a foreign country with new laws and regulations especially if you are not planning to stay there, so we turn to an expert in this field Mr. Frederick Ho. Mr. Frederick Ho has been assisting high net worth individuals and everyday people living in Hong Kong to do better investment decisions for more than 2 decades. And has one of the top firms when it comes to foreign property investment. So we redirect our questions to him, to understand more about overseas property investment.
Questions:
1) Hi Mr. Frederick, can you tell us more about your background? How did you decide to focus on overseas property investment?
I have been serving the property industry for over 15 years, starting by providing consultation services on HK local properties. Being closely in touch with all the affluent HK clients, I was enlightened much on business-wise and saw loads of new perspectives from them. You know. top investors are very sensitive to the dynamic shift of the global market. From a period of time, like 11 years ago, people start to explore alternative Asian markets, like Thailand and Vietnam.
More and more giant brands had changed their product line to those countries and the economic development there was rapid. No one wants to miss the gold eggs. By sensing the potential of the new markets, I shifted my career path from HK local property to overseas property 8 years ago.
2) Why do investors show interest in overseas properties over local properties in Hong Kong?
The main factor is HK property market has reached its high-saturated level, leading investors start looking for alternatives. The marginal profit, let’s say the rental yield, is going down, from 3.7% 2000s’ to around 2% nowadays. But when you look at other Asian countries, like Thailand and Vietnam, their markets start thriving, like HK’s 20 years ago. The average rental yield reaches up to 5-6%, probably the greatest number in the current global market. Among its peers, Vietnam’s GDP grew 8.02% in 2022, the fastest pace annually since 1997. And I can tell most of the investors are noticing it, explaining why people start looking for overseas properties. That’s also the trend in the future.
Another reason is the surge in immigration needs in recent years. People looking for a decent second home for their families, leading to the demand for quality overseas property.
3) Which countries do you focus on when it comes to overseas property investments?
We offer worldwide property. If we have to pick the highlights will be the UK, Vietnam and Thailand, which are in line with the potential profit of the market. We also offer a wide choice of property from the USA, Canada, Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Japan, etc. Basically, we have rich sources and solid connections wherever you look for, we tailor-make for our clients.
4) When it comes to investments it always associates with risk. What are the risks of investing in properties overseas?
For investors, the main concern is the loss of money. And that happens to all kinds of investments, not only property investment. A sophisticated investment decision is to minimize the risks while broadening the room for profit. Before we pick an overseas property, we have to look into the credentials of the developers and agencies, the tracking records of similar projects, the after-sales services, and the T&C of the contracts. My piece of advice is to do enough research before you buy any overseas property as all the above are tightly related to the loss and gain of the investments. The worst case is not only losing money, but it’s also the constant stress afterward like dealing with all the back-and-forth communication regarding the problem of the property.
5) How do you detect a good opportunity when it comes to property investment?
The best way is to find an experienced and renowned consultant to handle it for you, instead of doing it all by yourself. It ends up helping you save more, either time or money. The reasons are a good agency always has a strong connection with overseas developers which guarantees the clients get a better and safer deal. Even more, the agency can get exclusive sales of the property, meaning you can only buy the specific property through them. And the team of professionals always owns the most updated market trends and knowledge to their clients.
6) It seems like you need to do your homework well before taking this investment. As Ashton Hawks how do you assess the properties you open for investment to mitigate those risks?
Besides the exclusive deals we get from the overseas giant developers, we offer a one-stop service tailor-made service to clients from consulting, purchasing and follow through all the after-sales procedures like furnishing, renting out, property managing. Even, we can fly with the clients to guide them on-site. We ensure our clients are closely taken care of, hassle-free and worry-free.
7) If I want to know more about how to invest in overseas properties how can I learn more about it?
You can always find us for a free face-to-face consultation with our experts by just dropping us a call. We would like to serve you anytime and anywhere. Also, you can know more about overseas properties and the latest market trends from our official website, newsletters and social media.
If you want to know more, please find Ashton Hawks by:
Ph: 5226 1138 / WhatsApp: wa.link/18dlwo
https://www.ashtonhawks.com/en/
Media contact and partnership:
Silvia Cheung/ Lea Au
Email: marketing@ashtonhawks.com
Tel: (852) 2155 4421
Media Contact
Company Name: Ashton Hawks
Contact Person: Frederick Ho
Email: Send Email
Phone: (852) 2155 4421
Country: HongKong
Website: www.ashtonhawks.com