Hong Kong’s largest banks are likely to offer new mortgages to ease the burden on homebuyers amid elevated interest rates, but experts doubt that the trend would overcome the factors weighing down the struggling property market.
HSBC, one of the city’s three currency-issuing lenders, unveiled on Wednesday new mortgage plans offering a fixed rate of 3.18 per cent for the first three years, or 3.03 per cent for the first five years. In both cases, the rate for subsequent years is the prime interest rate minus 1.75 per cent.
The bank had offered fixed-rate plans at 3.25 per cent for three years or 3.15 per cent for five years starting in September.
“Large banks may follow HSBC,” said Eric Tso Tak-ming, chief vice-president of mortgage broker mReferral. In September, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Standard Chartered launched similar plans after HSBC, he said.
Since then, however, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority cut base rates by a cumulative half a percentage point in November and December, in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve.
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