Ming Wei Real Estate Investments

Investing in a market like China involves exchange-rate risk. You may lose on the exchange rate what you make on property appreciation and rent, although many experts feel that the Chinese authorities are holding the renminbi at an artificially low rate to support exports.The current value of the RMB can be checked here.

Bringing foreign currency in to China in order to invest in real estate is not very straightforward. We experienced many problems with this when we started investing in China, but by trial and error we found satisfactory ways of remitting money into the mainland. Please contact us if you would like advice on this topic.

Hong Kong is a huge beneficiary of China's rapid growth. It is a joke in China that increasingly "One country two systems" is giving way to "One country, one system and that system is the Hong Kong system". Market capitalism as practiced in Hong Kong has been both hugely successful and hugely influential in China. The respect that the Common Law based HK system gives to economic freedom - the untrammelled right to buy, sell and produce - has made it a very attractive place for multinationals to establish their base in Asia, and for foreigners to invest in real estate.

The principle advantage that Hong Kong has over the mainland is the ease with with non-residents can obtain finance for purchase of investment property. This makes the equity required to purchase an apartment in HK, especially for a locally-based investor, hardly more than that required to buy on the mainland, in spite of the near ten-fold difference in price. Of course the higher gearing comes with greater risk, both downside and (more importantly in the psychology of the property bull) upside.