Of the 17 boroughs where Hong Kong owners topped the list of overseas owners, the most can be found in Barking and Dagenham
Hong Kong homeowners have a larger footprint in London than any other international group, according to a report Wednesday from Benham and Reeves.
Hong Kong nationals have the most homes registered to foreign addresses in the city’s 17 boroughs, according to the report from the London-based agency. Its analysis examined the total number of residences registered to owners with out-of-country addresses and then broke down the data by nationality.
Of the 17 boroughs where Hong Kong owners topped the list of overseas owners, the most can be found in Barking and Dagenham, the figures show. They make up 31% of all houses registered to foreign owners. They also own the most property of any international group in Tower Hamlets (26%), Newham (24%), Lewisham (23%), Hackney (23%) and Greenwich (22%), among others.
International homeowners form a considerable part of the U.K. property market and London, in particular, has suffered due to a drop in demand as a result of Covid travel restrictions, Marc von Grundherr, director of Benham and Reeves, said in the report. You’d need only look at the variety of nationalities that are most prevalent in each borough to see how important this segment of homeowners is to the London market, especially Hong Kong buyers.
Many of the owners are investors buying property to rent out or who have been lured by the BNO visa, which allows British nationals from overseas to live, work and study in the U.K., he added.
Outside of London, Hong Kong nationals also accounted for the highest percentage of foreign registered homes in Manchester (26%), Birmingham (20%) and Leeds and Liverpool (both 14%), the data showed.
Owners from Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, between England and France, own the second-highest share of properties registered to overseas owners. They top the list of international homeowners in the boroughs of Hillingdon (14%), Westminster (13%), Kensington and Chelsea (10%) and Richmond (10%), plus the City of London (17%).
Singapore nationals made up 75% of international owners in Hounslow, while owners from the U.A.E. accounted for the most foreign registered homes in Sutton (22%) and Bromley (17%).
