The Guardian have released an article today discussing the impact made by foreign investment with particular interest from China.
Victor Li, a director of international project marketing for the US real estate giant CBRE, is predicting a surge of eastern investment in British homes over the next decade, as increasingly affluent Chinese investors acquire a taste for international property.
“I think it is just beginning,” says Li, of the amount of money pouring into property around the world from mainland China. “You do the figures: China has a population of 1.4 billion. If you target only 1% of China’s population, that’s 14 million people – so it’s already almost two Londons.”
Sitting in his office overlooking Hong Kong’s skyscraper-dotted Victoria Harbour, Li estimates that just 3% of potential Chinese investors in overseas property have so far been found – meaning a virtually untapped goldmine lies over the border in mainland China.
“China is a big market, you know?” he says. “They are getting wealthier and wealthier.”
Rich Hong Kong investors have been ploughing money into British bricks and mortar for decades, snapping up off-plan apartments at weekly property fairs that can then be rented, flipped, held as investments or used as second homes.
Jensen says Fraser & Co, founded in 1995, has traditionally specialised in London properties which it markets internationally through offices in Dubai and Hong Kong. Now, however, he is preparing to offer his clients their first major investment opportunity outside the capital, in a project specifically designed to attract Chinese money.
Called “New Chinatown” – or Xinhua Bu (New China Wharf) in Mandarin – the £200m venture in Liverpool describes itself as “one of the most important and exciting developments in the UK today” and promises to be “one of the UK’s most luxurious and desirable residential destinations”.
The development’s website boasts: “It is the burgeoning energy and dynamism of modern China transplanted into the heart of an historic World Heritage City.” Adding: “This is an historic moment … This is a unique investment opportunity.
“Underpinning the whole masterplan is the idea and motif of the awakening dragon – a powerful symbol of China’s resurgence and status as a new global power.”
Jensen says improving transport infrastructure in the northwest and relatively low prices meant New Chinatown – where two-bedroom duplex penthouses are on offer for up to £546,427 and ordinary one-bedroom flats from £119,211 – would be a hit with Chinese investors.
“You can’t just put up a block of flats in Liverpool and expect people to buy it … If you want foreign buyers there has to be a story,” he says, adding: “They’ll probably go quite quickly.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/29/inside-china-passion-foreign-property-investment-uk?CMP=share_btn_wa
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