There has never been a better time to put your starter home on the market with Keywest, as buyer numbers look set to be boosted by increasing interest from abroad for oversea property investment

With oversea property investment, investors from China and Russia are snapping up homes in the UK, particularly those aimed at first-time buyers and families, as they look to avoid huge price rises in their usual London playgrounds.

Until recently, wealthy buyers from overseas mostly focused on purchasing high-end properties, including mansions and London’s exclusive riverside flats, but new research from the Daily Mail has discovered that more are now looking at more affordable homes across the country.

Cash buyers from China are said to be touring Britain looking for investment opportunities, and the number of properties purchased using cash went up by around a fifth in the last year, indicating a rise in interest from investors with money to spend.

Among the properties currently attracting interest are those in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, as well as Sheffield, Manchester, South Wales and Liverpool, but this trend looks set to spread further, and foreign investors are likely to be preparing to make the most of what they see as very reasonable property prices in the likes of Leicester, Nottingham, Bristol and Derby.

In London, it is estimated that around 85 per cent of premium property is being snapped up by buyers from overseas, but housing-market experts say that a price hike of 19 per cent in the last 18 months is now prompting overseas investors to look elsewhere in the UK in a bid to bag a bargain.

According to Juwai, a Chinese estate agent, there are currently around 63 million people in China with the finances to buy property overseas. Hong Kong’s international property investment company IP Global announced that it was entering the property market in Slough in Berkshire, and another firm from China is selling micro-apartments in Manchester and Sheffield with the promise of top rental returns of eight per cent.

Some agents are now even offering British properties for sale in China before they put them on the UK market in a bid to cash in on overseas interest, and one agent in Manchester reported that around one third of all the British property it sold in August was snapped up by buyers from China.

There has been some criticism of overseas buyers investing in properties to make a quick profit and increasing competition for UK buyers, but many property experts say this is currently only really a trend in London.

For advice on how to make the most from this oversea property investment trend when selling your home in Leicester, contact the team at Keywest Estate Agents Leicester today.