Ban UK overseas buyers: report A report published today suggests that the U.K. should ban overseas property purchases by non-European Union residents. In its Finding Shelter report, the influential right wing organisation Civitas, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, urges the U.K. government to introduce a scheme, similar to that operating in Australia, where overseas buyers can only buy property where they can show their investment will add to existing housing levels. Today’s report blames foreign property buyers for driving property prices out of the reach of many U.K. citizens. It says that in 2012 a total of 85 percent of prime London property purchases were made with “overseas money”, and that two-thirds of overseas buyers were purchasing for investment purposes. It also notes that since 2012 more than half of all new homes in central London were sold to residents of Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Russia, with just 27 percent being purchased by U.K. residents. The report adds: The U.K. property market is being used as an investment vehicle by the global super-rich – and increasingly the simply well-to-do. The inflationary impact of this extra cash is good news for property owners – until they want to trade up the housing ladder.” The subject of foreign property buying in the U.K. is a hot political topic right now. In December U.K. Finance Minister George Osborne announced the introduction of a capital gains tax for foreign property investors. The opposition Labour party also announced plans to force British developers to market their developments in the U.K. before selling overseas, and to double the amount of tax on empty properties as well as second homes. Speaking to U.K. newspaper The Observer Sadiq Khan, the shadow London minister, said: London is in the middle of a severe housing crisis, yet there are around 50,000 empty homes across the city. Its complete madness. We must stop housing thats built as family homes being used instead as a piggy bank for the worlds wealthiest people.”
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:51:36 +0000
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