When the rate hike stops being a headline and becomes a number — Japan's short-term prime rate goes to 2.375%, and cash buyers are not exempt

When we wrote about Japan entering a hiking cycle in late July, the banks' short-term prime rate had not yet moved. From 3 August it did — from 2.125% to 2.375%. The BOJ's July meeting opinions published on 10 August, and the 13 August report that a September or October hike is in view, both say this is not the end of it. Here is how a rate rise travels, layer by layer, into property prices — and why all-cash Hong Kong buyers cannot sit this one out.