Falling home prices, weak pound give Hongkongers a window to invest in the UK

Average home prices in the UK fell for the third straight month in February, and were £5,000 below the recent peak in November

Some market observers expect overall prices in the UK to fall by up to 9 per cent this year as elevated interest rates are likely to weigh on demand

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A view of London’s skyline at night. Hong Kong investors are taking a keen interest in UK property amid a decline in the pound’s value and falling prices. Photo: dpa

Published: 10:00am, 21 May 2023Updated: 4:53pm, 21 May 2023

Hong Kong emigrants to the UK are relishing the current downturn in the UK’s housing market as it presents another real estate investment opportunity.

F. Chiu, a Hongkonger who moved to London with her father nearly a year ago, recently bought a nearly 1,000 sq ft flat in the West End, a stone’s throw from the Galliard Homes’ TCRW Soho project, on the tube system’s new Elizabeth Line, for £2.15 million (US$2.68 million). She bought another flat a few weeks ago, this time at the Orchard Wharf in London Docklands. A one-bedroom unit in the project starts from £460,000 onwards.

“The first purchase experience gave me enough confidence to buy another,” said the 50-something Chiu, who requested to be identified only by her family name. “We purchased the Orchard Wharf property in cash, and our tenants moved in on the third day after I got the keys.

“My father and I only came to the UK last July. This is our first such long-distance move … We are currently using the TCRW Soho apartment as a buy-to-let investment.”