When my employer provides me with free housing, why would I tell them: "No, I feel like buying a home in China. If you decide not to renew my contract, the bank can keep the house." Of course, I am being sarcastic here.

No no no, I am not suggesting you buy a house in China- quite right, take advantage of the accommodation that goes with the job. We have some rental income FT's on the forum but I don't think they'd get very far as Chinese type Nick Van Hoogstratens, hahaha. Nice bloke, actually.

I agree that at least some people are starting to wake up that a mortgage can be a dead weight around a person's neck and not an asset. YOu have to pay the mortgage at whatever interest rate, fix the house, and you can't always sell it at the price you bought. My parents bought a house 20 years ago for 160,000 and in 2012 they received full ownership after giving the bank 300,000 for it. If I include all the "renovations" my mother has done on it my parents will just break even if they sell the house.

I guess a home is good is you want to be more permanent in a place. My gf insists on paying for half the house, she has saved for it. My last gf owned her own home. It is good that SOME Chinese women do not insist on being given everything on a silver platter and actually contribute to the financial well being of a marriage. Besides, putting half the money in to own half the asset is only fair, right?

Fifty years ago when my grandmother got married, giving birth to eight kids, taking care of the house was her job and she could not work outside of it even if she wanted to. Now, who can have more than two children in China anyway? The times change.

Having a mortgage can give you a lot more freedom than rented accommodation- for example you can rent it out and sod off to China for a couple of years, leaving it in the hands of an estate agent. Paying rent is throwing money down the drain and usually more expensive than a mortgage- Lets do some sums, lets go for an 85% mortgage on a cheap flat selling at £85,000. So you will have to find £12750 and need to borrow £72250(will foxy correct me hahaha) Lets take a very high interest rate(because you have a poor credit rating) of 5.4%....that'll mean you will have to pay back the lender at a fixed rate of £444.47 each month- you should be able to rent out at £500 at least- but that is on a terrible interest rate and you could do better.

I should make a point of saying that if you do spend a lot of time in China, you still should service your credit history by using your credit card every month and making sure it is always paid off on time; otherwise we can leave bad credit rating footprints- no footprints at all can be just as bad if you ever want to return home and even rent a bloody flat because they will put you through a credit check- no history is bad history. We have a rental asset man on the site and he will be able to go into things in a little more detail than I- I'm a mere country boy.