British expats who are buying up investment property are increasingly focusing on homes in the Greater London area and the South East of England.
Skipton International has recently published some data suggesting that 40% of expats buy-to-let in Greater London, 25% aim for England’s South East and 10% are hoping to invest in the South West and the North West whilst 15% are focusing on the rest of England and Wales.
The main reason for the increasing number of expats investing in UK property is the bigger variety in mortgage products. Whilst it used to be almost impossible for expats to buy investment property on a mortgage, cash buyers used to run the market.
Skipton International were one of the first ones to launch its buy-to-let mortgage range in 2014, as a direct response to the difficulties expats were facing.
‘Property prices in London have increased significantly in the past few years, meaning that capital gains have been very attractive for investors. British expats have many reasons for investing in buy to let property in the UK and long term investment is usually the most important,’ said Nigel Pascoe, director of lending at Skipton International.
From 2016 to 2017: What tax changes are impacting the buy-to-let market?
‘We see lower average Loan to Values in the South East and particularly London as the rental yields are lower in those regions. Further north in England where rental yields are greater, higher LTVs are supported,’ he explained.
In another survey, Skipton International revealed that 35% of people cited long term investment as their main reason for investing in British buy-to-let property and another 19% said it was part of their pension plan.
The survey also found that 12% wanted to have an investment in UK property, another 10% wanted a rental income and 9% bought in their home country because they were either unable or unwilling to do so in their current country of residence.
