Great Britain’s proportion of overseas landlords has shrunk by more than half in the last eight years, according to a report Monday from Hamptons International.
Overseas landlords accounted for 14.4% of the British rental sector in 2010, when the brokerage began keeping records. In the first 11 months of this year, the figure fell to 5.8%, the lowest level on record, with every region seeing a decline in overseas landlords.
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"Sterling’s depreciation since 2016 undoubtedly makes it cheaper for international buyers to purchase property in Great Britain. However, the conversion of pounds back into local currency means additional costs, which cut into an overseas landlords’ monthly income," Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said in the report.
"This combined with a harsher tax regime for overseas investors is dissuading some international investors from entering the rental market," Ms. Beveridge added.
At 34%, Western Europeans accounted for the largest group of overseas landlords despite that group having fallen 2.1% since 2010. They’re followed by Asian and North American landlords, who make up 20% and 13% of the rental market, respectively.
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The number of Asian landlords has increased 2.1% since 2010, and Middle East-based landlords have also risen by 1.4% in the same time and now account for 11% of overseas-based landlords.
Despite having the largest exodus of foreign landlords, London is still home to the most.
In 2010, one in four homes (26%) let in the city were owned by an overseas-based landlord. So far this year, that figure has fallen by to 10.5%, after dropping 4.7% in the last two years alone.
Outside the capital, Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest proportion of homes let by an overseas-based landlord, 6.7%, having only seen a 4% fall in foreign landlords since 2010.
www.mansionglobal.com/articles/overseas-landlords-turning-away-from-great-britain-117248
