Why Invest In UK

Brexit had created an abundance of negative headlines over the last two years, with the finance and property market at the forefront of many. Even before the UK voted to leave the European Union, former Chancellor George Osborne warned that housing prices may fall by 10-18% if such an outcome was to occur. However, the foundations that the London market has been built upon are strong and many well not change in a post Brexit world, in fact, for some, Brexit may even make the London property market more appealing.

As Brexit negotiations start to take shape however and changes to Stamped duty are absorbed into the cost of buying, a cautious confidence is returning. Change always creates opportunity and as far as London property is concerned, there is one clear winner in all the Brexit uncertainty - foreign investors. According to research, a US buyer moving to prime central London would have benefited from an effective discount of 22% since the referendum given currency and house price movements. The discount similar for an Indian, Hong Kong and Middle Easter buyer, while the figure was 17% for a Chinese buyer and 28% for a Russian.

The pound may be bouncing back since the referendum but the UK is still a huge draw for international buyers. National house prices are now 16% above the peak of 2007 and new research has predicted that over the next 5 years we will see house prices accelerate by a cumulative of 18%. The UK has one of Europe’s strongest property markets overall, and is still a popular choice among many overseas investors, while overall investment in the UK from abroad continues to rise at a steady pace according to the Office of National Statistics.

Furthermore, the BBC has reported that, “England ‘needs millions of homes to solve housing crisis’”, in a report published in March 2019. Existing schemes like Help to Buy are an effective use of taxpayers’ money, the report claims. The figures, compiled by estate agency Savills, suggest the delivery of new homes is still falling short of the 65,000 a year identified in City Hall’s new London Plan as the minimum needed. There are more people living in London than ever before. According to data published by the Official for National Statistics (ONS), London’s population surged to 8.8 million in 2017. The population in the capital has been growing by 1.1% on average annually since 2012. This equates to 96,000 additional people each year. However, according to the Greater London Authority’s Housing in London: 2017 report, just 20,030 new homes have been built in the capital each year on average over the last decade.