rimaha

I'm Australian, my husband is British (now also an Australian citizen) and we have been settled in Australia for a number of years. We both work in Australia but are looking at buying a property in London. Can anyone recommend mortgage brokers in the UK who can arrange this? Also, does anybody know whether we would have to start lodging 2 tax returns (Australia and UK) or whether the profit/loss of the London investment property can just be included in the Australian tax return? Thank you in advance.

mikelincs

I wouldn't worry too much about the tax implications, but your major problem will be finding someone to lend you the money, there are very few mortgage companies offering expat mortgages now so I would suggest using google to do a bot if searching.

Pulaski

What Mike said. For several years others have been reporting that they can't even refinance a rental property they already own in the UK while they are living overseas, so the prospects of finding a lender to buy a property from scratch while you are in Australia, is pretty unlikely.

Beoz

I have had very little success finding a mortgage for the UK while living in Australia.

Last attempt the broker said all he could find was something that required 50% deposit (ok fine) about 10% interest (ok not ideal but workable) and required me to have annual earnings at the value of the lending amount (well what the f*** is the point of lending the money then).

That said, I noticed HSBC UK are currently advertising expat mortgages. I did phone them and I passed phase 1. Phase 2 is coming. I have no idea what that means but no doubt they will put such restrictions on it that it won't be worth it.

rimaha

Thank you all for your responses. There are literally a lot of Australian lenders who offer mortgages to people working outside of Australia, intending to own Australian property. I didn't realise that the opposite would be so difficult. Very grateful for the advice.

rimaha

10% interest....Are they serious??? Pfffttttt....

Beoz

I think you will find Aussie lenders are also cautious to foreign buyers.

Pulaski

There is a limit to how much any one bank can lend, based on the amount of reserves they have. The British banks have been under pressure to increase their reserves relative to their loan portfolios - and reducing their loans achieves the same thing - loans down, reserves up.

So, when British banks can lend as much as they possibly can/ are allowed to with plain vanilla lending to Mrs & Mrs Average who live in the UK, have jobs in the UK, a current UK credit history, and can be entirely researched and verified in the UK, why would banks want to run specialized departments and make relatively risky loans to people living outside the UK? .... The simple answer is that they neither need nor want your business, and as someone quoting HSBC's terms above discovered, if you really insist on doing business with them, they are going to make completely sure they make a tidy profit on the deal!

Amazulu

You can understand lender hesitation when it comes to this - there is a lot of risk involved for them

swans

Banks are changing.CET1 ratios raised and mortgages being re weighted for risk.APRA clamping down on investment mortgages.


You may need to take out a credit line on property or shares in OZ,if you have the asset backing and secure income then they will make you jump through hoops,but eventually an Australian bank should come to the party.
As long as you have something to secure the loan in Australia then age comes into it,they want the money back and may only go for a 5 or 10 yr loan.They will be very interested in how much you have in super.


They will rightly call in the security if you do not repay.they will not lend on a house o/seas,too much hassle for valuations and seizure.


ATO data matching will catch you,so you need to declare in Australia,no idea what UK tax laws are.


Time may prove that it is a good time to buy,leave the rental income in the UK until things settle down and you may gain both ways on the forex.


Geordie downunder

Beoz

Ok. HSBC UK seem to be doing something. Its through a service called HSBC Expat. This scheme is similar to Premier. You need £60,000 to open the account or the same amount in your Premier account. Then you need to wait 6 months, then can apply for a mortgage. The current rate was 2.9% so not the worst rate you could get.

Leedarama

hi Beoz,

I know you made this post awhile back but did you have luck with HSBC expat?

Beoz

I haven't followed it up unfortunately. It wasn't the easiest of processes so when things aren't easy, you tend to put them low on the list, unless of course it becomes urgent.

But do give them a call and see what they say. It would be good to hear.