Time to switch off foreign investment in the UK housing market?
November 17, 2015
This story has understandably slipped under the radar in the light of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
The government has sold off £13bn of former Northern Rock mortgages that taxpayers acquired during the financial crisis. It’s one of the final pieces of the jigsaw from the bailout of the failing banks during the credit crunch 2008. It will be followed in the Spring by a sell off of Royal Bank of Scotland shares to the public.
Chancellor George Osborne states that this “demonstrates the confidence investors have in the UK.” And over the last few years the UK, and London in particular , has seen massive investment in the property market. Reports of Russians moving their money away from the rouble, investors from the Middle East have spent their oil money and London house prices have become unaffordable for most Londoners.
A short message to London estate agents
So, as an estate agent in London I suspect your loyalty is divided. You will want to sell your stock as highly as possible to buyers from all and any nationalities, but will also want affordability for the local people.
In my view you can be both of those things at once. You can be a campaigning voice, someone that adds their name to the right petitions, makes the right comments on social media and the forums and yet still go on with your day job of making money as an estate agent.
A short message for everyone else
Affordability has become a real issue in the United Kingdom housing market. The government has proposed a massive house building programme, new cities being built and a return of Right To Buy (with caveats for social housing thrown in) since being elected. This problem is now critical, we have moved away from being a nation of homeowners and generation rent is paying off someone else’s mortgage, not their own.
It’s time to really push on with these housing initiatives. I’ve blogged many times before about the chronic shortage of housing. I’d suggest you look at the housing programmes that are going on in your local area, speak to the planners and the councillors and add your support. Every local authority has to come up with a medium-term housing plan to play their part. And you can play yours.
You May Also Enjoy
Rightmove asks government to carefully consider property tax changes
The UK’s largest property platform Rightmove is asking the government to carefully consider the impact of any changes to property taxation to avoid unintended consequences which would risk stalling parts of the market. Key data National property tax Just under a third (30%) of homes for sale in England are priced at over £500,000, and…
Read More 
Get Fast and Reliable Basement Flood Cleaning Services
Having water in your basement is awful. It could be because of a storm, busted pipe, or bad sump pump. Whatever the reason, water damage in your basement has disastrous effects if not dealt with. Basement Flood Cleaning Services are what you need. They will dry it out, disinfect the floor, and have your basement…
Read More 
Breaking Property News 21/08/25
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X. Providing comprehensive, predictive operational intelligence across all aspects of building operations JLL (NYSE: JLL) this week introduced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that are now available as an add-on to Prism, its award-winning building operations platform. As part of JLL’s property management technology ecosystem powered by…
Read More 
UK House Price Index summary: June 2025
The average monthly rate of house price growth in June was 1.4%. The average annual rate of house price growth in June was 3.7%, up from 2.7% in May. As a result, the average UK house price remains at £269,000. CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, commented: “June’s figures reflect a market that is steadily…
Read More 
Private rent and house prices, UK: August 2025
Average UK monthly private rents increased by 5.9%, to £1,343, in the 12 months to July 2025 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate is down from 6.7% in the 12 months to June 2025. Average rents increased to £1,398 (6.0%) in England, £807 (7.9%) in Wales, and £999 (3.6%) in Scotland, in the 12 months…
Read More 
Industry response to latest inflation figures
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, comments: “Unfortunately, any increase seen within the rate of inflation does brings very justified concerns to consumers, many of whom are still struggling with the cost of living, which has been steadily rising over the past few years. “Although there is more work to be done to help ensure inflation…
Read More