The Property Investment BARBIES Are Coming

The Property Investment BARBIES Are Coming

Author: Nicola Christie

A new social group has been identified in the UK, made up of a rapidlygrowing number of young British investors. Identified in a study commissioned bytop insurance firm, Hiscox, the signs are strong that this influential new groupis about to start pushing up the prices for overseas property investments acrossthe board and across a wide range of markets. The so-called barbies (buyingabroad, renting in Britain) are united in their dissatisfaction with the currentproperty situation in the UK and are voting with their feet, committing theirfunds elsewhere by renting in the UK but making positive steps towardsgenerating income and security by investing overseas.

A massive 27% of prospective first time buyers here in Britain wereidentified as preferring to invest overseas rather than at home, as a way ofgetting on the property ladder. Indeed, the younger the purchaser, the morelikely they are to choose to invest in a property overseas, with 84% of 18-24year olds believing that overseas bricks and mortar is a more affordable optionthan buying in the UK, where they felt that options were severely limited byprohibitively high prices and poor choice.

Not only is this group noting that the purchase of overseas property is asavvy investment move, they are proactively using the funds generated by suchinvestments and feeding them back into the UK property market, utilising theiroverseas investment as a way of saving for a generous deposit on a propertycloser to home. With more than a quarter of those polled willing to move as faraway as New Zealand or Australia as a way of securing healthy capital gain orhigh rental income, it seems that this new British social group is serious aboutentering the property game - on their own terms.

Nicola Christie is a freelance expert in emerging property markets andcontributes regularly to national and international property publications bothin Europe and worldwide. She also works extensively with developers and agentsas a consultant on identifying key emerging markets and regionalhotspots.

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