A new survey found that one in seven parents in Hong Kong would buy their children apartments in the city, the world’s most expensive real estate market. In fact, most first-time buyers in the city are using funds from their parents.
In the survey, reported on by the South China Morning Post, 53 percent of Hong Kong parents said they would extend their mortgages to help their children and 60 percent said they are giving money to their children well into their 30s. Half of the parents surveyed also said they valued buying their children homes over their own retirement savings.
The survey was run by the Hong Kong’s mandatory retirement pension plan, which is understandably concerned by the results.
“We cannot fault parents for caring, but they should pay attention to the potential risks that arise when they neglect to prepare for their own retirement,” said the plan’s chief executive Stephen Fung to SCMP.
Hong Kong house prices rose for the seventeenth month in a row as of August and the average debt-to-income ratio was 75 percent as of the second quarter, according to SCMP.
[SCMP] — E.K. Hudson