Hong Kong buyers tempted to tap into English old-world property
It's not just big developers who are targeting Chinese investors looking for something unique
For sale - a beautiful British early-Victorian restored house of an incredibly spacious 5,500 sq ft, with wrought-iron supports for the cute veranda, right on the water; a snip at £1.35 million (HK$16.65 million) and overhauled by an interior designer and her psychiatrist husband.
But it's in Norfolk?
It's been common for British developers to seek Hong Kong buyers for their properties. Now entrepreneurial and well-travelled expats are doing the same.
In this case, it's Anji and Barry Connell - she's the designer and he's the psychiatrist - who renovated a storied property known as The Bathhouse in Cromer, on the north Norfolk coast and are looking for a Hong Kong buyer.
The couple lived in Hong Kong for 11 years before returning to Britain in 2000, to renovate The Bathhouse, a beachfront property with a spa bathroom and its own cinema room.
Although the property is also on the market in Britain, property sales outside London are moribund at the moment, given the state of Europe's economy and the lack of easy credit. Now that they are returning to Hong Kong, and find it hard to manage the large property, they are hoping a Hongkonger might be looking for a first or second home in Britain.
They bought it for £180,000 and say they spent £1.1 million on the renovation.
