Indian Investment in UK Residential Property Set to Soar
A new report by Jones Lang LaSalle, titled ‘UK-India Cross-border Residential Investment,’ projects a substantial increase in Indian residential investment in the United Kingdom. Over the next decade, this investment is predicted to reach a staggering £15 billion, fueled by India's robust economic expansion and the growing ranks of its high-net-worth individuals.
The report anticipates that Indians could acquire between 20,000 and 30,000 UK residential properties within the next ten years. This surge in investment activity is expected to elevate UK-India cross-border investment to between £10 billion and £15 billion by 2018.
Attractive Investment Landscape
Several factors contribute to the UK property market's appeal to Indian investors. The market offers a high degree of transparency, long lease terms of up to 25 years, and stable, long-term income generation potential. The proximity to the 2012 London Olympics also added to the market's attractiveness.
Currently, Indian investment in UK residential property ranges from £0.6 million to £1.2 million. With no restrictions on Indian investment in this sector and strong house price growth, the report suggests that this investment scale will expand exponentially over the coming decade.
High-Profile and Growing Interest
While high-profile figures like steel magnate Laxmi Mittal, with his substantial property holdings in London's Kensington Palace Gardens (valued at approximately £440 million), have garnered attention, there's a concurrent rise in less prominent purchases by Indian investors.
"Indians could potentially own 20,000-30,000 UK residential properties over a 10 year horizon and UK-India cross border Investment is all set to grow to 10-15 billion pound by 2018," the report states.
The Jones Lang LaSalle analysis points to a significant increase in the number of Indians with resources available to invest in UK residential properties, projecting a rise to an impressive 583 million by 2025, in addition to an anticipated 400,000 new High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) by 2017. This growing pool of potential investors underscores the potential for continued strong growth in Indian investment within the UK residential market.
The report further highlighted the fact that with no restrictions on Indians investing in UK residential property and strong house price growth, the market would continue to see the current investment size of 0.6-1.2 million pound grow exponentially over the next decade.
Indian investors are particularly interested in UK property market as it offers greater transparency, long leases of up to 25 years, long-term income generation capacities are stable, the London Olympics in 2012 being in vicinity.
Beside steel czar Laxmi Mittal, who has bought a number of homes in the past couple of years, there has been a growing tide of lower-profile purchases by Indians.