Hong Kong Mortgage Battle Sees Banks Go Big on Cash Handouts

  • Cash rebates at highest level in over 17 years: Centaline
  • Bank margins squeezed with cap on lending rates, high costs

Residential buildings in Hong Kong, China.

Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg
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Fierce competition for new mortgage customers is driving banks in Hong Kong to offer the highest cash rebates in nearly two decades.

The deals — offered as a percentage of the principal loan amount — ramped up from about 1.3% last year to as much as 2.6% currently, the highest in over 17 years, according to Centaline Mortgage Broker data.