Hong Kong residents snapping up northern properties

[Trampa501]

6 minutes ago, shlomo said:

I do think so, its like when the arabs bought in London in the 1970s they never sold, and people me including thought they were mad buying at the prices they did, over time property has been a one way bet, the problem is your a creating a disenfranchised class that make the country unstable.

There has been a lot of instability and wars in the Middle East, so you can understand why Arab investors held onto London properties - in relative terms a stable and safe place to have a bolthole. Would people from China think the same way? No one is going to be invading China, although there is a risk of a return to harsh dictatorship.

[Si1]

9 minutes ago, Trampa501 said:

There has been a lot of instability and wars in the Middle East, so you can understand why Arab investors held onto London properties - in relative terms a stable and safe place to have a bolthole.

Unless you're a Russian oligarch having your possessions confiscated. I wonder whether that will change things?

9 minutes ago, Trampa501 said:

Would people from China think the same way? No one is going to be invading China, although there is a risk of a return to harsh dictatorship.

 

[shlomo]

6 hours ago, Trampa501 said:

There has been a lot of instability and wars in the Middle East, so you can understand why Arab investors held onto London properties - in relative terms a stable and safe place to have a bolthole. Would people from China think the same way? No one is going to be invading China, although there is a risk of a return to harsh dictatorship.

I see a fault line here, Islam does not allow for the confiscation of private property but communism does, who wants to be poor the Chinese will never sell up, they could be spreading their wealth for insurance purposes 

[TheResponsibleHouseBuyer]

6 hours ago, Trampa501 said:

There has been a lot of instability and wars in the Middle East, so you can understand why Arab investors held onto London properties - in relative terms a stable and safe place to have a bolthole. Would people from China think the same way? No one is going to be invading China, although there is a risk of a return to harsh dictatorship.

 

10 minutes ago, shlomo said:

I see a fault line here, Islam does not allow for the confiscation of private property but communism does, who wants to be poor the Chinese will never sell up, they could be spreading their wealth for insurance purposes 

Always thought that you never own property in China, you lease it from the Government. That's why if u are wealthy in China it is better to invest in the UK where at least you will have ownership rights and almost guarantee that the Government wont take it from you. Plus the appreciation of the asset is unbeatable.

Also the Chinese housing market is heavily volatile - just look at all the ghost cities they built.

[shlomo]

2 minutes ago, TheResponsibleHouseBuyer said:

 

Always thought that you never own property in China, you lease it from the Government. That's why if u are wealthy in China it is better to invest in the UK where at least you will have ownership rights and almost guarantee that the Government wont take it from you. Plus the appreciation of the asset is unbeatable.

Also the Chinese housing market is heavily volatile - just look at all the ghost cities they built.

Good point

Property ownership is fundamental to why the UK attracts money 

[TheResponsibleHouseBuyer]

The amount of Hong Kong owners have gone up tenfold in my area. Just walking in the supermarket and looking at the viewings for homes on my street is anecdotally evident. Plus the local estate agent put an article in the newspaper setting this out.

I live in one of the most affluent areas in the Country, so them buying property means that they almost have unlimited wealth/ buying power.

Snapping up northern properties must be like buying a used car. 

Obviously this is a generalisation, but i think most HKers have wealth (inherited HK property, businesses and skills etc).

[Stjames83]

7 hours ago, fellow said:

Doesn't all this foreign investment just increase the likelihood of a crash as they no emotional connection to the UK so will just sell up and move to the next emerging market once prices start falling?

Congratulations, you win today’s straw clutching competition.

As the posters above have pointed out overseas property is the safest investment for these people. Another reason there won’t be a crash. 

[shlomo]

2 minutes ago, Stjames83 said:

Congratulations, you win today’s straw clutching competition.

As the posters above have pointed out overseas property is the safest investment for these people. Another reason there won’t be a crash. 

Could still be a crash, the anecdotal evidence on this thread is that they are purchasing in the north not in The South east, so some area’s will crash 

[Stjames83]

So the historical North/South price gap shrinks, and people can’t as easily sell up down south and relocate to the north. Which maintains/increases demand down south, increasing prices again.

[zugzwang]

Just now, Stjames83 said:

So the historical North/South price gap shrinks, and people can’t as easily sell up down south and relocate to the north. Which maintains/increases demand down south, increasing prices again.

A few thousand relocating out of London won't change the fact that prices in the south are stratospherically unaffordable. They're made affordable only via continuous govt subsidy and the artificial suppression of interest rates. The govt is the market. But the national debt is at a postwar high and doubling every decade, while consumer price inflation has run off to the Moon because the base rate is much too low. The sovereign debt carry alone is approaching £100bn/yr!

Given these inconvenient truths, how much longer will the Tory boys be prepared to use public money to re-finance Gordon Brown's ponzi scheme? That's the question you should be asking yourself. At some point the racket becomes calamitously self-defeating and will be abandoned. Many of us are willing to wager that point is now.

[Tony_Teacake]

On 8/7/2020 at 7:10 AM, Warlord said:

If  it was up to me i would only allow Permanent Residents to buy property.. no exceptions.  @spyguy

I'm with you on that one.

[Smiley George]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11001579/amp/How-Sutton-south-London-hotspot-thousands-Hong-Kong.html
 

Apparently it’s putting pressure on schools, local services and housing….i mean really who could possibly have predicted????

 

[winkie]

What is unaffordable to some is very affordable to others, people who are like each other, speak like each other, understand each other, like to to live in an area where others live like themselves........you get it everywhere, us Brits overseas generally like to live where other Brits live and will very often continue to speak in the language they understand.

Edited July 12, 2022 by winkie

[Saving For a Space Ship]

Britains New Hong Kongers - fri 2 sept 9.30 bbc news iplayer available now 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001c1d3/britains-new-hongkongers

Thousands of people from Hong Kong have left everything they knew behind to start a new life in the UK since last year.

From Warrington to Reading, over a hundred thousand took up the British government's offer of a new visa route, escaping a government accused of eroding their freedoms and liberties.

As they navigate their new life in the UK, Elaine Chong follows the journey of some of them to find out if it's all they hoped for, and finds a community that's trying to restart their life but experiencing many of the same tensions they left behind

[Fromage Frais]

On 11/07/2022 at 15:24, shlomo said:

I see a fault line here, Islam does not allow for the confiscation of private property but communism does, who wants to be poor the Chinese will never sell up, they could be spreading their wealth for insurance purposes 

Dictators pick and choose the islam bits.

In Tunisia back in the day if you had a nice cafe on a busy corner or a one off villa and one of the presidents relatives liked it... expect weekly tax inspections and power cuts etc etc.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/how-saudi-royal-crushed-his-rivals-shakedown-ritz-carlton-n930396

etc etc

[PeanutButter]

Inside Little Hong Kong: How a single London borough is attracting thousands of families and students fleeing China as influencers use photos of Poundland, Starbucks and Lidl to entice others to the area

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12676059/Inside-Little-Hong-Kong-single-London-borough-attracting-thousands-families-students-fleeing-China-influencers-use-photos-Poundland-Starbucks-Lidl-entice-area.html

 

(Sutton)

[shlomo]

34 minutes ago, PeanutButter said:

Inside Little Hong Kong: How a single London borough is attracting thousands of families and students fleeing China as influencers use photos of Poundland, Starbucks and Lidl to entice others to the area

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12676059/Inside-Little-Hong-Kong-single-London-borough-attracting-thousands-families-students-fleeing-China-influencers-use-photos-Poundland-Starbucks-Lidl-entice-area.html

 

(Sutton)

the comments are very interesting..

[debtlessmanc]

49 minutes ago, shlomo said:

the comments are very interesting..

Indeed v positive ..

[shlomo]

1 minute ago, debtlessmanc said:

Indeed v positive ..

Yes, makes you wonder

[Chunketh]

This isn't news. Its been going on for over 3 years.

First hand experience, I was outbid in 2020 by an insane amount. My reply to the agent was along the lines of "bite their hand off, they are obviously retarded"

[shlomo]

3 minutes ago, Chunketh said:

This isn't news. Its been going on for over 3 years.

First hand experience, I was outbid in 2020 by an insane amount. My reply to the agent was along the lines of "bite their hand off, they are obviously retarded"

What was the list price and how much did they bid.

 

[Chunketh]

40 minutes ago, shlomo said:

What was the list price and how much did they bid.

 

IIRC 340k, they bid 365k

[skrillex]

3 minutes ago, Chunketh said:

IIRC 340k, they bid 365k

You dodged a bullet there. 

[skrillex]

Some of these Hong Kongers will get disillusioned and move on elsewhere. I've been reading a lot of posts on the next-door website from HKers lamenting how bad the local the schools are and asking why the police do nothing when their bicycle gets stolen. I guess not what they were expecting in areas with such high property prices.

[Chunketh]

2 minutes ago, skrillex said:

You dodged a bullet there. 

At the time i'd have paid over the asking (think it was 335) Nice house, done nicely. We ended up settling for something similar for 324. 

Needs must when the devil drives. Im 50 next year and we were first time buyers......tick tock etc.