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One in ten Brits now live overseas

11th December 2006 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

Nearly ten per cent of the British population now live abroad and a million people will follow them over the next five years, as more UK property investors look for overseas homes than ever before.

Over 198,000 Brits headed for foreign shores last year, mainly due to the extra spending power caused by the strong pound and booming house prices, which helps homeowners free up equity.

On top of the 5.5 million UK nationals living abroad long-term – 9.2 per cent of the population – there are an additional 500,000 spending part of the year away from British soil, according to major new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

The fact that the UK now has one of the highest proportions of its population living abroad in the world is testament not only to a strong economy but also the ambition and potential returns available to overseas investors.

Danny Sriskandarajah, associate director of IPPR, said: "When the going is good, Brits get going. A healthy economy at home, especially when house prices are buoyant and the pound is strong, makes it easier to up sticks and move abroad.

He added that Brits are likely to be looking for "a better job, a better quality of life or a sunny retirement" when they move overseas.

Indeed the research reveals that the most popular reason – to which 37 per cent of respondent ascribed – to leave behind British climes was the 'better quality of life' offered in international locations.

As expected, IPPR found that Spain was the most popular European destination for British emigres but surprisingly Germany has crept up into fourth spot as 115,000 people now live in the home of Europe's largest economy.

One of the main reasons why Brits may opt for central European plains in the next five years, as opposed to the holiday favourites of Spain and France, is that due to the structural economic reforms going on in Germany, there is a growing domestic demand for home ownership, thus increasing a property's resale potential.

Just 13 per cent of Berliners own their own home and only 43 per cent of the nation as a whole can put a home down as one of their assets. Seeing as two-thirds of Brits and 85 per cent of Spanish are homeowners, according to research from Assetz, this represents a gap in the domestic market that investors are currently looking to fill.

Properties in central Berlin, which go for just £137,120, are likely to fuel the exodus of Brits vying to invest in European real estate.

This is a press release by Assetz also available at http://press.assetz.co.uk/articles/3156.html. Alternatively, please see our full press release archive.

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