HSBC will raise its HIBOR-based (note 2) mortgage rates (樓宇按揭息率) for the fourth time this year, but trim (減) its prime rates (最優惠利率) for the first time, to draw (吸引) more clients to the latter.
The new rates are effective today. Customers of the largest mortgage lender will get HIBOR plus 1.8-2.3 percent instead of HIBOR plus 1.5-2 percent. Or they can opt for (note 3) prime minus 2.7 percent, a deeper cut from the old rate of prime minus 1-1.5 percent. Hang Seng Bank (0011), Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia (0023) said they are sticking to (維持) their rates for now. Bank of China (Hong Kong) (2388) said it is monitoring (注視) the situation closely.
With the one-month Hong Kong interbank offered rate at 0.2 percent, the new HIBOR-based rate would range from 2-2.5 percent. And with the prime rate standing at 5 percent, it is 2.3 percent for those opting for the alternative.
"The other banks are definitely going to follow HSBC's move (緊跟匯豐的決定)," said Centaline Mortgage Broker managing director Ivy Wong Mei-fung said. "The gap between the two mortgage plans has narrowed (收窄, note 4). Some home owners - especially long term borrowers - may shift to the prime-based plans."
An owner of a HK$2 million property who has taken a 70 percent HIBOR- based mortgage over 20 years will have to pay HK$7,082.37 to HK$7,418.65 per month, as compared to HK$6,885.18 to HK$7,215.74 previously. The alternative is HK$7,283 per month for prime-based mortgages.
The give and take from HSBC comes as latest official figures show there were 70,342 sale and purchase agreements (買賣合約) in the first half, 17.7 percent less than the second half of last year. The value of the deals was HK$370.1 billion, down 2 percent from the second half of last year.
From good to better English:
(note 1) give and take=The practice of compromise (妥協)。例句: Every apartment sale-and-purchase contract involves some give and take(樓宇買賣在妥協下才能簽約)。另一解釋是熱烈討論(Lively exchange of ideas or conversation)。例句: "The raucous give and take of Legislative Council sessions is known to all (立法會內的熱烈討論經常出現)。
(note 2) HIBOR=Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (銀行同業拆息), 即銀行間互相借貸的利息。
(note 3) opt for=選擇(choose, select)。opt out=退出。例句: The Hong Kong government gives individual schools the right to opt out of the funding formula and opt for direct subsidy instead (學校可以退出政府資助計畫以直資代替)。
(note 4) narrow (形容詞)= 窄。Narrow (動詞)= 收窄、限制。Victor has a narrow circle of friends=Victor 交際不廣。a narrow mind =小心眼，小氣量。have a narrow escape =九死一生。
Victor’s View: With inflation easily climbing to 7% in Hong Kong in the second half, I think it’s wise for home buyers to choose prime rate-based mortgage deals. If you choose HIBOR-based rates, your mortgage payments could go sky high when interbank rates surge in response to rising inflation. My two cents.
(Victor Fung Keung, director of HK Baptist University’s M.A. in international journalism program, has published 3 books on English-enhancement and plans to write 7 more by the end of 2012. Write to him: deanfungenglish@gmail.com)
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