More real estate in London is owned by Indian proprietors than by the native English population, a new study has revealed.
According to the London-based property developer Barratt London, English property owners are the second-biggest group in their own capital, sandwiched between Pakistani proprietors below and Indian property owners at the top.
Indian investors, both living in the U.K. and abroad, are reportedly willing to spend between £290,000-450,000 (€335,000-520,000) for one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartments in the U.K. capital.
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“We are seeing a strong demand from Indian investors looking to purchase properties in London and invest in the stable and long-term property market,” Stuart Leslie, Barratt’s international sales and marketing director told FinancialExpress.com. He added that approximately one-third of Barratt’s overseas sales are to investors intending only to use the property for its rental income.
Leslie revealed that Indian homebuyers make up 3.5 percent of the overseas market; the Middle East is “another strong player … with investors from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.”
“They’re eager to invest in the U.K. residential market because they are getting better returns owing to the exchange rates and market presence presently,” Leslie said. “It is relatively a safer market in comparison to the UAE or India.”
Furthermore, a globally friendly timezone, universal language, and longstanding democratic and legal principles make London an optimal place to do business as well as relocate, with admissions of Indian students to U.K. schools and universities increasing by 128 percent in just one year.
Meanwhile, the economic downturn, sky-high property prices, and current mortgage stress tests make owning a property in London for most domestic workers simply unachievable.
The average London property price now stands at £523,666 (€605,338) as of March 2022, up 4.8 percent year-over-year, and the percentage increase in house prices nationally was 11.5 percent year-over-year in August.
With salary review websites such as Glass Door reporting that a typical salary in London is £40,979 (€47,364), and lenders remaining reluctant to allow prospective buyers to borrow more than 4 to 5 times their annual salary, the majority of first time buyers are priced out of the market and resort to renting.
