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

New Zealand’s House Prices at 10-year high.

Whilst house prices in many parts of Europe and United States are still very sluggish, New Zealand is seeing its house prices hitting a 10 year high in November 2009. The sudden price surge has left economists shaking their heads. This month it has taken only 31 days to sell a house on average, compared to 33 in September

The increase estimated to have reached an annualised rise of 13.1% through a shortage of listings, low interest rates and rising net migration respectively.

Meanwhile the Governement is introducing its Entrepreneur Plus Immigration legislation- effective on November 30. It will grant fast track to residency to foreign would be business migrants willing to invest 500,000 NZ Dollars in their business and create at least 3 fulltime jobs. The most interest has come from USA, Britain, India, the Phillipines and Ireland.

Portugal Tipped As Top Destination

With Portugal pulling out of recession, the European Commission predicts that Portuguese economy will do better in 2010 than previously expected. Having rebounded from a property slump Portugal now sees property prices starting to follow a positive trend.

As a new International Airport opens at Beja, an influx of tourists and property bargain seekers are expected to follow. Such a situation could help bolster the property market at a time when the country’s economic conditions improve.

Here, a special focus on Golf Property and Investment opportunities because such properties are ideal for golfers as well as for Buy-to-Let investment buyers.Whilst golf property takes advantage of a very busy ‘low season’ with many golf enthusiasts flocking to Portugal to enjoy golf holidays in excellent weather, for the investor, this offers a constant flow of rental clients and makes golf investment property the favourite for buy-to-let investors.

As we near the year end of 2009, the news coming from the US housing market is good. November figures show that number of housing starts at 529,000 which is lower than what the 600,000, Economists had forecast. Is that good or bad? I believe it is good. Why build more when the country has seen a housing boom with too many houses built, too many now being repossessed and too many homeowners caught in negative equity. On the other hand, if no are houses are built, interest rates will be left where they are: at zero, the dollar allowed to fall and tax breaks are maintained in order to encourage people to buy houses.

The statistics coming from the National Association of Realtors show that sales of previously-owned US homes surged in September to the highest level in more than two years. The rise was 9.4% to an annual rate of 5.57 million in September up from 5.09 million in August .

The average sale price dropped 8.5% from a year ago to $174,900, the smallest annual drop in 13 months. This, too I consider to be good news as it is more evidence of a US housing recovery.

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

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