The Home Office has privately predicted an influx of another 1.1 million migrants in 2024. A large proportion of these are overseas students and their dependents.
Jonathan Hopper, of buying agents Garrington Property Finders, said he has seen an increase in foreign buyers in the past year, adding: “There’s a lot of dollar-backed buyers in the market at the moment. Even though the pound is going up, a lot of those buyers will have bought pounds when sterling was on its knees six to twelve months ago.”
Foreign buyers accounted for 0.3pc of sales across England and Wales in 2019, but were concentrated in areas like Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster in London, as well as Salford and Rochdale, where they make up 7 to 9pc of sales, according to Ms Sa’s research.
Ms Sa’s data, which analysed the period from 1999 to 2019, did not include sales made to foreign buyers who were not purchasing via a company. Many overseas buyers choose to purchase using a company as a way of saving tax and protecting their privacy – until recently, the ultimate owner of these firms did not have to be disclosed.
Buyers from the 50 most common foreign nations owned 187,275 homes in England and Wales in January, up 4pc from a year ago, according to Land Registry data obtained by letting agents Benham and Reeves.
Buyers from Hong Kong own 24,759 of these properties – the largest proportion of these homes.
Hong Kongers also represent a growing share of migrants coming to the UK.
In 2021, the UK introduced a 2 percentage point stamp duty surcharge on foreign buyers, and Labour has proposed increasing this if it wins the next general election.
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