[Fei Gweilo]

I am looking to buy a UK property with a view to living in that property upon my return to UK.

I would welcome any advice on where is best to source the actual mortgage - HK / UK / Offshore Bank?

[dipper]

We went back to the UK at CNY to check out properties and mortgages for the same purpose. We were considering buying something now and renting it out until we return but property values have gotten out of whack with rentals and even with a hefty deposit we found that rentals on many properties wouldn't even cover the payments on an interest only mortgage. Together with the distinct possibility/likelihood of a crash coming in the UK and the unfavourable exchange rate we decided not to buy at this time.

Mortgage-wise we found that banks were starting to worry about anything unusual, some had stopped doing buy-to-let mortgages altogether, some wouldn't deal with anyone overseas etc. We ended up going to a mortgage broker who found us options that would work. Can't remember who the broker was offhand but I'll PM his info if I can. Since that time I understand that the mortgage market in the UK has tightened up still more and many mortgage products have been withdrawn.

That's as much as I know at the moment.

[Hoista]

Lloyds TSB offshore do an international mortgage which allow currency swapping. I was considering shifting my mortgage over to them but decided against it. I am living in Japan atm, (moving to HK in the summer), and the exchange rate between the YEN and all other currencies has been exrememly volatile