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Expats in Gulf States and Asia still rushing to buy UK property
| Published: | 15 Dec at 6 PM |
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Mortgage enquiries from British expats and investors living overseas have soared by 45 per cent over the present quarter, indicating the rush from abroad to purchase UK properties is far from over.
The still-growing trend seems to totally negate expectations that the government’s change of its buy-to-let tax law would put the brakes on the UK’s booming market. Even the political chaos surrounding the Brexit negotiations seems to have had no effect on the popularity of buy-to-let investments, although the focus is now on cheap properties in the north of the country. It seems the fall in sterling over the past 18 months has effectively placed a ‘for sale’ sign in the sky above England.
Reasons for the rush to buy may be purely investment-linked, an opportunity to get a base for a return to the UK or a crashpad for siblings at a UK university, with potential capital gains post-Brexit now on the back burner. Another reason for the unexpected increase in enquiries may well be apparent moves towards a soft Brexit as in last week’s agreement. Since then, sterling has strengthened slightly.
The strong impetus to buy now rather than later may also be linked to the general belief that mortgage rates have nowhere to go but up. Even now, the cheapest mortgages are being pulled by their providers as the costs of funding sterling rise both for commercial lenders and the banks themselves. Many financial institutions now consider the risk of inflation in the economy is also heading upwards and are moving to increase their profits accordingly. According to mortgage providers, demand for UK property is highest in the Gulf States and East Asia, with both foreign nationals and UK expats taking part.
The still-growing trend seems to totally negate expectations that the government’s change of its buy-to-let tax law would put the brakes on the UK’s booming market. Even the political chaos surrounding the Brexit negotiations seems to have had no effect on the popularity of buy-to-let investments, although the focus is now on cheap properties in the north of the country. It seems the fall in sterling over the past 18 months has effectively placed a ‘for sale’ sign in the sky above England.
Reasons for the rush to buy may be purely investment-linked, an opportunity to get a base for a return to the UK or a crashpad for siblings at a UK university, with potential capital gains post-Brexit now on the back burner. Another reason for the unexpected increase in enquiries may well be apparent moves towards a soft Brexit as in last week’s agreement. Since then, sterling has strengthened slightly.
The strong impetus to buy now rather than later may also be linked to the general belief that mortgage rates have nowhere to go but up. Even now, the cheapest mortgages are being pulled by their providers as the costs of funding sterling rise both for commercial lenders and the banks themselves. Many financial institutions now consider the risk of inflation in the economy is also heading upwards and are moving to increase their profits accordingly. According to mortgage providers, demand for UK property is highest in the Gulf States and East Asia, with both foreign nationals and UK expats taking part.
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