The Mortgage Explorer Blog

We were just about to close one winter evening in 2005 when the telephone rang. It was a Canadian nurse living and working in London. She was married to an Australian  IT consultant. Both had a working permit expiring in 3 years’ time and were renting an apartment, at the time.

The lady was seeking a deposit to buy a flat in downtown Vancouver but would also want a mortgage. The husband had an unencumbered flat in Sydney, Australia. The nurse explained that she had contacted every lender she could imagine in London but had no luck. They all said that they could not comply because she had no permanent residence in this country. She had found The Mortgage Explorer on the web and she felt it was her last resort.
What followed may sound extraordinary to the general public but it was quite simple really.
We dismissed the working permit, concentrated on the salaries they both earned. We next applied for 2 mortgage agreements in principle from an offshore lender. One mortgage was in Australian Dollars as it related to the flat in Sydney. This was the equivalent to the amount required as deposit in Vancouver. The other was the mortgage for the balance of the purchase price on the Vancouver flat. This was in Canadian Dollars.

To some it may seem quite sensible to use the respective currency for where the two flats were located. We could have also got the two mortgages in Sterling as both earned in that currency. However we opted for the previous format because both flats were self financing through getting rented out. The respective income was in Australian Dollars in Sydney and Canadian Dollars in Vancouver. For good measure though, we ensured that there was at least 2 free currency switches annually, they could turn to, should there be a punitive fluctuation in currencies, at their expense.

The whole process took 10 weeks to complete and the happy couple could not believe that they had achieved their dream. In fact the young lady commented that if ever we were to write an article about these transactions we should entitle it : ‘Mother Flat in Sydney makes Baby flat in Vancouver’. Voila

Australia has emerged as the number one investment destination for ASIA.

The stable market conditions compared to the global position and the high demand for rental accommodation has led to a rapid increase in property investment. Australia can rightly claim the title of ‘The Wonder Down Under’. In most developed economies home prices are going backwards, whereas prices are rising in Australia. The solid growth of Australia’s population is a key reason why Australian home prices are rising, not falling.

Investors are seeking more stable markets where return on investment is more certain than the emerging markets that have been favoured in recent years.

With very high demand for rental,those of you seeking finance can loan up to 80% of the property value and look forward to strong future capital growth.

Apartments have seen the greatest rise in fortunes recently, as more single and younger buyers seek quality apartments with good commuter links to the major cities.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EXPERT GUIDANCE ON THE AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY MARKET & MORTGAGE FACILITIES, PLEASE CALL THE MORTGAGE EXPLORER ON +44 1425 627511 OR COMPLETE THE CALL BACK REQUEST FORM LOCATED THROUGHOUT THIS WEBSITE