What Attracts Buyers from Hong Kong to the UK Property Market?

Property investors from Hong Kong and Asia have long been partial to the UK property market, but why is this?

The UK market offers value for money and favourable exchange rates. Hong Kong is famed for it's expensive property market and so investors do tend to look overseas. Especially after the very well publicised unrest and street riots over what was though to be an unfair extradition bill (that has just been dropped). All this public unrest and uncertainty has lead to investors looking overseas, even more so than before.

You might be thinking, but what about Covid? Well the truth is, the virus peaked in Asia long before it did in Europe. The economies are recovering in Asia and so whilst confidence in the UK may be somewhat low or uncertain... in Asia they are confident we will come out the other side. They are a good few months ahead of the UK.

It's also worthwhile considering that in Asia they are much more experienced and adaptive in dealing with pandemics and flu outbreaks on a national level.

The UK property market has been buoyed in recent months by the incoming stamp duty surcharge for overseas buyers. This has meant many foreign investors are rushing to complete purchases before 2021. There is some talk of this being extended to aid recovery but as yet this is only a rumour.

Historically speaking, the UK economy has been a stable playground for Asian investors. The pound is performing badly against the US dollar but the Hong Kong dollar has been strong - meaning that the UK still offers investors, value for money.

So let's talk about where foreign investors look to park their capital...

London has always been popular but the emergence and growth of many UK cities has seen overseas investors turn their attention to cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool to name just a few. Quite obviously these cities are in 'growth mode' and offer long term investors value for money and long term capital growth.

So even with the mitigating Brexit and Covid situation, the UK still remains a strong favourite for Hong Kong investors. The future remains bright and even into 2021 and beyond, I think the UK will be an attractive place to invest for the Asian investors.

We will be turning a spotlight onto the UK's major investment hot-spots in 2021 so keep an eye on our blogs and free articles.