The boss of one Singapore-based property developer has said the crackdown on overseas property buyers and investors in the United Kingdom could make them feel less welcome.
Ching Chiat Kwong, Chief Executive of Oxley Holdings, was quoted by the Financial Times newspaper as saying overseas buyers in London are here to stay.
The United Kingdom has seen increasing anti-overseas property buying sentiment over the course of the last 12 months, and earlier this year a large number of high profile U.K. property developers signed a pledge to offer new homes for sale to local buyers at the same time as conducting any overseas roadshows. Previously, many projects received their global launches in Singapore or Hong Kong.
Last month the Malaysian consortium developing the Battersea Power Station project, which sold around three quarters of the 800+ units in its first phase to buyers from Southeast Asia in early 2013, announced it would not be holding any property exhibitions for its second phase in the region, and that buyers must physically attend the showflat in London if they want to secure a unit.
The U.K. government has already acted to close a tax loophole for foreign buyers who owned property through companies, and housing is set to dominate the news agenda in the run-up to the general election in 2015 with both the main opposition parties looking to impose further taxes on overseas property buyers.
Speaking to the newspaper, Ching said: “Investors want to feel they are welcome and so far London has done an amazing job. You feel your investment in property is very safe. [With higher taxes] as a foreigner I would feel that this is a country that does not welcome me, that does not want me to buy houses.”
Oxley Holdings’ 3,400-unit Royal Wharf development in east London (pictured) has sold almost one-third of its units to buyers from Southeast Asia to date.
There is a “huge demand” for London homes in Singapore, Ching added.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group,
wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
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