Dear HKf,
here are no certainties out there at the moment with investments and those you ask will split into 2 groups, the ones who think positively and do not live in fear and make the decisions based on clear goals they have set with their families and those who are terrified to comit to anything either because they are overly influenced or because they live in fear all the time.
If you are asking advice from people, take a look at their lives, progress and values, if they match yours then its worth considering but in the end its a lonely decision. Sitting on the fence, is not sitting on the fence, it means you are loosing flushing the value of your housing allowance down the can each month!
If you are worried about investing your savings into the down payment, then go for the maximum morgage you can over the longest term possible. he first year is the hardest psychologically then it gets much easier.
I have always found that when making investment decisions at the end of the day it comes down to having a clear goal in mind. In all the years in HK there was never a right time to buy, only in retrospect did we know the answer and those who took the risks who at the time were considered foolish by some were called lucky afterwaards.
If you are on an ex pat package with a housing allowance, ask yourself how long who hope to stay here, multiply your house purchases allowance by that many months or years and thats how much you can afford the propertity to go down and still break even.
The other factor to consider is that if you have a family, owning your own home gives a certain amount of peace and comfort in an otherwise rather displaced lifestyle.
Fortune tends to favour the brave
Good luck.