UK Property
The UK is a great place for overseas property investment, as it offers secure and safe growth to investors. Whenever stock markets start a downward trend, investors are drawn to tangible assets that provide a stable income and safeguard their capital.
There are several reasons why the UK has historically been a good place to invest in property
Property in the UK has been considered a stable way to store value. Attractive yields and relative long-term political stability create a good environment for property investment. As such, overseas investors are continuing to purchase property in the UK.
It is estimated that foreign ownership of UK properties has trebled in the past decade. Buyers have come from many countries, with those from China, the Middle East, and South-East Asia particularly active in the UK property market.
With house prices projected to continue rising over the next five years, overseas property investment into the UK looks set to continue.
This is because the UK has long been considered a safe haven compared to other economies and has a long history of strong property investment opportunities.
The UK has fared relatively well throughout past economic crises, and investors feel confident putting their finances in a stable and secure market, with a strong legal system.
Other factors that attract investors to the UK include:
- Rental income from UK property offers some of the highest yields in the world
- High quality of investment stock and mature and transparent nature of the market
- Housing shortage: the population of the UK is steadily increasing while too few properties have been built in recent years to cope with demand
- Green Belt: government policy known as the Green Belt was put in palce to control urban growth and sprawl by protecting the countryside that surrounds out cities in Britain. Over recent years, the Green Belt has been criticised for reducing the amount of developable land available, thereby pushing the price of houses up as supply fails to meet the demand for new homes
The UK’s chronic housing shortage is one of the country’s biggest challenges
The UK housing crisis is one of the biggest challenges the country faces. The government says that it remains committed to building 300,000 new homes every year by the mid-2020s, but fewer than 250,000 were built in 2021.
This is putting sustained pressure on prices and is likely to continue in the long term.