Buying Property Under a Limited Company in Hong Kong: How Mortgage Terms Differ From Personal Ownership

Buying a Hong Kong property through a limited company gets you the same maximum loan-to-value ratio as buying it in your own name, capped at 70% under current HKMA rules, but it locks you out of one thing individual buyers can use: the Mortgage Insurance Programme (MIP), which lets personal buyers push their LTV up to 90%. That single exclusion is the difference that matters most, and it changes how much cash a corporate buyer needs upfront, which lenders will even consider the deal, and how the whole transaction gets structured. MoneyBuddy has spent over 10 years matching Hong Kong borrowers, including property investors and SME owners buying through corporate vehicles, with the right lender across a network of 30+ banks and finance companies, and this is one of the questions our mortgage team fields constantly from clients weighing up personal versus corporate ownership.

TL;DR

• Corporate and personal buyers face the same 70% base LTV cap and the same 30-year maximum mortgage term for residential property, following HKMA’s 2024 rule changes.
• Corporate entities cannot access the Mortgage Insurance Programme, which caps them at 70% LTV while individual salaried buyers can reach up to 90%.
• Stamp duty is now identical for companies and individuals since demand-side management measures were abolished in February 2024, with no extra Buyer’s Stamp Duty for corporations.
• Commercial and industrial property, typically bought through corporate structures, carries shorter loan tenors of 20 to 25 years versus 30 years for residential.
• Lenders assess corporate applicants differently, focusing on company financials and directors’ guarantees rather than personal payslips, which is where a mortgage broker in Hong Kong earns their keep.

About the Author: This article draws on MoneyBuddy’s experience matching over 2,500 borrowers across personal, SME, and mortgage products in Hong Kong, including verified cases such as a HK$3,000,000 second mortgage cash-out approved in 3 working days. Our team works daily with both individual and corporate buyers to compare mortgage terms across 30+ banks and licensed lenders.

What Does It Actually Mean to Buy Property Under a Limited Company?

Buying property under a limited company means the title deed is registered to a corporate entity, usually a special purpose vehicle set up for that property, rather than to a named individual. The company, not you personally, becomes the legal owner, borrower, and party to the mortgage. This structure is common among property investors holding multiple units, business owners buying premises for their operations, and families using a company to hold assets across generations. It is a legal and financing decision as much as a tax one, and it changes almost every subsequent step of the mortgage process, from documentation to loan tenor.

How Does the Loan-to-Value Ratio Differ Between Corporate and Personal Buyers?

On paper, the base LTV ratio is identical: both corporate-owned and personally owned residential properties are capped at 70% under HKMA’s 2024 rule changes [retailbank.hsbc.com.hk]. The gap opens up above that threshold. Individual buyers, particularly first-time homebuyers, can apply for the Mortgage Insurance Programme, which allows them to borrow up to 90% of the property value by paying a mortgage insurance premium that protects the bank against default. Corporate entities are strictly ineligible for MIP, which is reserved for regular salaried individuals, regardless of how strong the company’s financials look.

In practice, this means a corporate buyer purchasing a HK$10 million property needs at least HK$3 million in cash or equity upfront, while an individual buyer might get away with HK$1 million through MIP. That is not a rounding difference, it is the deal-breaker for many would-be corporate purchasers, and it is exactly why some investors weigh up the tax and liability benefits of a company structure against the much larger deposit it demands.

Quick Comparison: Corporate vs. Personal Ownership

Factor	Personal Ownership	Corporate Ownership
Base LTV cap	70%	70%
Access to Mortgage Insurance Programme	Yes, up to 90% LTV	Not eligible
Max mortgage term (residential)	30 years	30 years
Max loan tenor (commercial/industrial)	Rare use case	20 to 25 years
Stamp duty (AVD)	Same rates	Same rates, no extra BSD
Debt servicing ratio (DSR) limit	50%	50%

Do Companies Pay More Stamp Duty Than Individual Buyers?

No, and this is one of the more misunderstood points in the market. Since the demand-side management measures were abolished in February 2024, property purchases by limited companies and individual buyers are subject to the exact same Ad Valorem Stamp Duty (AVD) rates, ranging from a flat HK$100 for properties under HK$3 million up to 6.5% for properties over HK$100 million as of 2026. There is no additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty layered on top for corporate purchasers. Before 2024, corporate buyers faced significantly higher effective duty because companies were treated as non-permanent residents by default, which is why the old perception that “buying through a company costs more in duty” persists even though the rule that created it no longer applies.

How Do Mortgage Term Lengths Compare for Corporate Buyers?

Building on the LTV and duty comparisons above, term length is where property type, not ownership structure, starts to matter more. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority caps the maximum mortgage term at 30 years for residential properties, and this applies equally whether the borrower is an individual or a limited company. Where things diverge is with commercial and industrial property, which is typically purchased through corporate entities: banks generally cap the loan tenor at 20 to 25 years for these asset classes.

The shorter tenor on commercial and industrial assets is not a penalty against companies specifically, it reflects how banks view the underlying asset. Commercial property values and rental yields tend to move with business cycles more than residential prices do, so lenders shorten the repayment window to reduce their long-term exposure. A company buying a residential unit for staff housing, for example, still gets the full 30-year runway; it is only when the underlying asset itself is commercial or industrial that the shorter clock starts.

What Documents Do Lenders Ask For From a Corporate Applicant?

A related but distinct question from LTV and tenor is what a bank actually wants to see before it approves a corporate mortgage, and the paperwork looks nothing like a standard salaried application. Instead of payslips and employer letters, lenders typically request:

• A copy of the company’s Business Registration Certificate [sc.com]
• The latest 6 months of company bank statements [sc.com]
• Audited financial statements or the latest Profit Tax Demand Note [sc.com]
• Personal guarantees from company directors, who effectively backstop the loan with personal liability
• Company incorporation documents and shareholder structure

This is essentially the same due diligence a bank runs on an SME loan applicant, just applied to a property purchase rather than working capital. Underwriters are trying to answer one question: if the company’s revenue dries up, who actually pays? That is why director guarantees are near-universal in this space, even though the company technically owns the asset.

Why Would Someone Choose a Corporate Structure Despite the Lower LTV?

Given that corporate buyers give up 20 percentage points of LTV headroom by losing MIP access, it is fair to ask why anyone bothers. The answer usually comes down to reasons that sit outside the mortgage itself: liability separation, succession planning across a family, holding multiple investment properties under distinct entities to ring-fence risk, or aligning a commercial property purchase with an existing operating business. None of these benefits show up on the mortgage term sheet, but they are often the deciding factor for investors and business owners who can absorb the larger cash requirement.

Where this gets genuinely useful is in cash-out scenarios. An investor who already owns a property through a company and needs liquidity for another acquisition or for working capital can look at a second mortgage on the existing asset rather than raising a fresh purchase loan. MoneyBuddy’s network has handled cases like a HK$3,000,000 second mortgage cash-out approved in 3 working days and funded within a week at 6.00% APR, which shows how quickly equity can be unlocked when the underlying structure and documentation are already in order.

How Should a Buyer Actually Compare Mortgage Offers Across Lenders?

Stepping back from the mechanics of LTV and tenor, the practical challenge for most buyers, corporate or personal, is that every bank prices and structures these loans slightly differently, and a company’s financial profile makes that variance wider. A mortgage broker in Hong Kong who works across multiple banks can see this variance directly and match the applicant’s specific profile (director guarantees, industry type, cash flow pattern) to lenders more likely to approve on favorable terms, rather than the applicant approaching one bank at a time and absorbing weeks of delay on each rejection.

Running the numbers through a mortgage calculator in Hong Kong before applying is a useful first step, since it clarifies the monthly repayment burden at different LTV and interest rate assumptions before you commit to a specific lender’s paperwork. MoneyBuddy offers a free version of this tool alongside its lender-matching service, and for corporate applicants specifically, initial approval can come back in as little as 3 business days, compared with the 2 to 4 weeks common at a single standard bank, because the matching process routes the application straight to lenders whose corporate underwriting appetite fits the profile.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a limited company get a 90% mortgage in Hong Kong?
No. Corporate entities are capped at 70% LTV and are ineligible for the Mortgage Insurance Programme, which is the only route to 90% LTV and is reserved for individual salaried buyers.

Is stamp duty higher for companies buying property in Hong Kong?
Not anymore. Since February 2024, companies and individuals pay identical AVD rates with no extra Buyer’s Stamp Duty for corporations.

What is the maximum mortgage term for a company-owned residential property?
30 years, the same cap that applies to individual buyers. Commercial and industrial properties, more commonly bought by companies, are capped at 20 to 25 years.

Do banks require personal guarantees for corporate mortgages?
Yes, in almost all cases. Directors typically guarantee the loan personally alongside the company’s audited financials and bank statements [sc.com].

What is a second mortgage and can a company apply for one?
A second mortgage lets an owner borrow against equity already built up in a property, on top of an existing first mortgage, and companies can apply for this in the same way individuals do, subject to the same LTV and DSR limits.

Should I use a mortgage broker in Hong Kong for a corporate purchase?
It is worth considering, since corporate applications involve more variable underwriting criteria across banks, and a broker comparing multiple lenders at once can surface options an applicant would not find going bank to bank alone.

Does the debt servicing ratio limit apply to corporate borrowers?
Yes. Corporate entities are subject to the same 50% DSR limit as individual buyers under HKMA guidelines.

About MoneyBuddy

MoneyBuddy is a free, independent loan matching platform in Hong Kong that compares mortgage, second mortgage, SME, and personal loan offers from over 30 banks and licensed finance companies, including 15+ tier-1 banks and 10+ licensed money lenders. The platform has matched over 2,500 borrowers since operating under Thunder Financial Holding Limited for more than 10 years, and its consultants work on fixed salaries with no commission, so recommendations are not tied to which lender pays the most. For property buyers weighing personal versus corporate ownership, MoneyBuddy’s mortgage specialists compare terms across the network at no cost, with initial approval possible within 3 business days.

If you are weighing up buying property through a limited company or need to compare mortgage or second mortgage terms across Hong Kong’s lenders, get in touch with MoneyBuddy at https://www.moneybuddy.hk for a free, no-obligation comparison.