Private banks targeting wealthier buyers from China, Hong Kong and India
Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong property investors are turning to areas surrounding London and prime central London in search of growth potential and better lifestyles.
A recent report from Savills found that Watford, which is undergoing a £1.5 billion regeneration, has begun to attract a huge range of new buyers, including those from China and the rest of Asia.
We regularly speak to Chinese and Indian buyers who want to purchase property in the UK, but getting them mortgages through high-street lenders can be tricky.
There are private banks specifically targeting buyers from mainline China looking for mortgages. They are also keen on wealthier borrowers from Hong Kong, Singapore, and India.
Private banks increasingly have bankers that can speak Cantonese and Chinese dialects. They are taking the time to understand traditions and how these buyers like to transact business.
Like other international buyers, we still see wealthy Chinese and Indian people sending their children to schools here, buying second homes and investing in the property market.
Private banks tend to have minimum loan sizes, they also have strict ‘know your client’ and anti-money laundering rules which have tightened up recently. They can only lend to buyers who demonstrate how they earn their money and their source of wealth.
More Hong Kongers coming to the UK
Some 144,500 people have left Hong Kong and moved to the UK in the two years since London launched an emigration scheme for holders of British National (Overseas) passports after Beijing enacted the national security law in the city. This is according to data from the UK Home Office.
Sutton in Surrey has been popular with people from Hong Kong moving to the UK, along with the boroughs of Kingston, Harrow, Ealing and Barnet. Other parts of the country that have attracted Hong Kongers include Reading, Southampton, Brighton and Milton Keynes.
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The information contained within this article was correct at the time of publication but is subject to change.
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