Chinese investors have long been admirers of London property, and have been very active within the Capital’s property market for a number of years now. However, there seems to have been a sudden shift in interest where UK property is concerned for Chinese investors, with the UK’s northern cities attracting more interest from Chinese investors than ever before.
With the weakened pound following the results of Brexit, the UK has seen growing interest from overseas investors and in particular those from China. Whilst London remains a popular place to invest, the Northern Powerhouse cities have seen a surge in interest. A Chinese website for overseas property, Juwai.com, reported that enquiries for property investments in Manchester and Liverpool increased by 255.6% and 160% respectively in January 2018 when compared to the previous year. For the same period of time, London enquiries saw a decrease of almost 50%.
Why has there been such a Shift in Interest?
With the introduction of the Northern Powerhouse Initiative, northern cities are now beginning to see the benefits associated with being part of it. With large financial investment into various elements of the cities, they are becoming very desirable places to live. Although London has been a popular place for Chinese investors over recent years, such transformations to northern cities are now attracting their interest, and this has been strengthened by boosted economies as a result of the initiative.
As well as this, investments in the UK’s northern cities are actually becoming more and more attractive to Chinese investors, especially when compared to some of their London investments. The average property price in Manchester is £190,000, and so the average sum of £223,000 that these investors have available for each property purchase puts them in a very strong position to get more for their investment. Investment purposes are the main reason that Chinese investors purchase property in the UK, and so lower purchase prices, high rental yields and a higher probability of capital growth makes these investment opportunities very appealing.
Chinese Investor Input
Such is the interest from Chinese investors in the northern cities of the UK, they are now not only purchasing property, but they are now also involved in the developmnt of new properties. Particularly in Manchester, more and more developments are being funded by Chinese investors, with Chinese investors then also purchasing the property.
These investors are committing a lot of time and money into UK property investments, especially in the north, and now with access to the north of England via a direct flight to Manchester airport, that trend is only expected to continue. The Chinese community within Manchester and Liverpool is expected to grow over the coming years, and therefore so is their investment into property within these areas.
For more information on investing in UK property or the buy-to-let investment market, please contact Hopwood House.