Gwailo

Yes - Steve99 is100% correct. We also need 2 cars and almost everything is at a distance, it just takes way more time to go to places than the UK. Don't get me started on the local supermarkets.........

I live in a small seaside town south of Melbourne. Local house prices are on average about 6 to 7 times annual income (approx). The average house in this area would be about AUD $500 to $600k. Most people here seem to live on a tight budget although the environment and weather makes things a bit easier than say the UK for example.

Life in the US is still very attractive; a decent middle class lifestyle possible on a reasonable level of income. The big question is - do you have residency rights? I can see no point in buying a lovely property in the US unless you can legally live there without restriction. If I had the cash I'd be looking at Hawaii as the best option........not as cheap as Florida mind. Regards,

I would recommend that you select a location to buy a property in a location where you can actually live either unrestricted or with simple visa application process. This would rule out places like the USA. Europe is the obvious location; but don't discount places like Malaysia where property can be very reasonable and you can get a 'retirement' type visa quite easily which allows you to live there pretty much unrestricted.

Thanks for your reply - good to hear it from the locals. It seems to me Perth is still going 'mental' - I hear mixed opinions from Melbourne. Once again - many thanks for your views - interesting article too. Regards.

I am looking to buy a property in suburban Melbourne in 12 months time - so I have a deep personal interest in this subject. Are there any 'local' Australians who can comment on the true situation in Melbourne? It seems the article is saying 'people think prices will rise - but they also think sellers will have to lower asking prices to sell'...........strange? Regards.

You are of course - correct. The other things the MTR won't be able to do in London is get the land along the line granted to them by the government so they can off-set the costs to the railway with property development. This has been the MTR's very successful 'Rail + Property' model in Hong Kong & now Mainland China - but it certainly won't work in London. The MTR is also very good at opening existing & redundant areas of metro stations into 'retail space' which increases rental income significantly - again good news for commuters. These are nice shops too - not the crap you find in Euston Station. Having said all that the MTR will face serious challenges operating in London. Regards.

It is not really fair to call the MTR Corporation a 'Chinese Company' - it is really a Hong Kong company. Many of the directors are actually British and New Zealanders. I used to work for the MTR in Hong Kong and they are very good indeed at running a metro system. This is actually good news for London - not a sign of the Chinese buying up British assests at all as this is a joint venture with a British company.

Frankly - if you have the money to buy a brand new Ford Focus - you would be better to 'invest' some of the cash in education or some sort of vocational training in order to qualify yourself for migration to either Australia, Canada or anywhere else that takes your fancy. The money left, after your course, should be sufficient for a one way air-ticket & a good deposit on a nice house in your chosen new country. Thats what I would do in your situation - forget about the car - thing long term. Good luck.

I'm off to Singapore, (initially), although the longer term plan is to 'settle' in Australia. Hong Kong has been good to me - I still love the place, but a new baby has changed my views about this town for the long term - air polution issues being a major factor of course. As for places which provide the best quality of life/cost ratio - I think Singapore offers much in this respect, (whilst you are still working), but for retirement - Thailand or Malaysia are still the best! Japan isn't to be overlooked either - but a much more challenging environment to live culturally - you would need to learn the language & adapt much more than say a place like Singapore or Malaysia. Good luck to all!

Hong Kong is indeed a fantastic place - excellent in terms of career prospects and the ability to 'save' most of your disposable income, (if you want), you can't do that in the UK. However, I have always considered Hong Kong as a 'profit centre' - a place to make money but never as a 'cost centre' (i.e. a place to spend your life savings & settle down). Hong Kong has always had a bit of a 'temporary' feel about it for me - a place to come for a few years, make a few Quid & then move on - mind you I have been here for 17 years now, finally off next week! As for Hong Kong property - you either have to be very brave or have come to the conclusion that this town is the right place to spend the rest of your life! (It is very risky playing the property game in this town). As another poster has mentioned - there are far better places in Asia to invest your money in property than than Hong Kong - and a good quality of life to be found in many countries in the region. Regards.

Na - I never purchased property in HK. It was always 'risky' back on the early 1990's - Hong Kong property has proven itself to be a road to slavery in 1997/98 for those with negative equity. I agree - some people did very well out of the HK property market - but it has always been a bit of a gambler's market. Anyway, I will be leaving HK for another South East Asian location very shortly. Regards.

Fair question - how free are the press in Hong Kong? Well put it this way - the press managed to report the 65% fall in property prices in 1997-98 - and they also managed to acurately report the fall in property prices during SARS, (Spring 2003). So I can't see why the press wouldn't report any differently this time around? Certainly there isn't much in the way of 'property prices crashing' in the press at the present time. The real test of course, is to pop into your local 'Centaline' or 'Richacorp' estate agency here in Hong Kong to see what asking prices are doing - yes there is some slippage of the asking prices - but I can't see any dramatic fall though. Did you know - you can read previous 'property transactions' on-line on most of the major estate agencies websites - the property market, (at least the second hand market) is quite transparent really. Regards.

I live in Hong Kong. I can tell you right now - property prices are not 'crashing'. They might be 'slipping' in some areas of Hong Kong, but there is certainly no 'crash' to speak of. Maybe they are talking about the future? Regards.