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I'm super curious to see how this will turn out for the UK. A lot of the comments here mention HK's relative high education, English proficiency and wealth. If

I'm super curious to see how this will turn out for the UK. A lot of the comments here mention HK's relative high education, English proficiency and wealth. If those are true: the upside will be easier settlement into the UK, maybe increased entrepreneurship. The downsides are: driving up local housing prices, increased competition for jobs. If those are false, the UK may experience an influx of lower-wage labor and increased competition for blue-collar jobs. Possibly even increased crime (maybe Triads would move to the UK?) I have a feeling anti-Asian/Chinese racism would spike in the UK. It has popular bipartisan support right now (another comment mentioned that) because anti-China/CCP sentiment is probably at an all-time high, but you can't take in thousands/millions of people in a short amount of time from a different culture without expecting an impact on your own. tl;dr: How do I invest in British real estate?

OJFord 6y ago
> tl;dr: How do I invest in British real estate? Builders (e.g. Persimmon) and LSE-listed investment trusts buying land for development, assuming you mean residential. If you mean commercial, there's a wider choice of funds, developers, and management companies.
C1sc0cat 6y ago
And you assume that China will allow an orderly evacuation and allow HK residents to leave with their capital intact. This might be more like the ethnic cleansing that happened in Kenya and Uganda - where people where forced out leaving behind a lot of assets.
christoph 6y ago
I think you would have to be slightly crazy to invest in UK property right now. COVID is leading to mass lay offs across many sectors and destroying what little was left of the high streets. Add in lots more working from home - property values will probably, IMO, level out across the country rather than being concentrated heavily in the south east, London and major cities as less people need to commute. Why live close to London if you don’t need to travel in everyday? Businesses will then undoubtedly scale down or reduce the burden of commercial property with more homeworkers, etc. leading to an increase in available real estate, etc. Just my opinion.
tomp 6y ago
> The downsides are: driving up local housing prices, increased competition for jobs. No, no. Increasing housing prices are a long-standing policy in the UK (and many other Western countries, as evidenced by low credit rates and extra bonuses for mortgages) and a gift to many voters (whose personal wealth is tied to their homes), and would be a welcome boost in times of COVID. If the UK was afraid of brain drain of London's financial elite (UK's big "export" is finance) because of Brexit just a year ago, vacuuming up HK's financial elite would be a welcome counterweight.
- fatjokes 6y ago
  Nope, not buying those. Perhaps I should have defined "downside" with "for whom". > Increasing housing prices are a long-standing policy in the UK (and many other Western countries, as evidenced by low credit rates and extra bonuses for mortgages) and a gift to many voters (whose personal wealth is tied to their homes), and would be a welcome boost in times of COVID. Would you apply that same argument to say, Vancouver? Would you say their increased housing prices is a welcome boost? The locals certainly don't think so. > If the UK was afraid of brain drain of London's financial elite (UK's big "export" is finance) because of Brexit just a year ago, vacuuming up HK's financial elite would be a welcome counterweight. My understanding is that the "brain drain" is because the finance jobs would move to somewhere in the EU (and the expertise would simply move with them). It's not like they're leaving because the UK doesn't pay well in that sector (e.g., Canada vs. the US in the tech, medical sectors).

OJFord 6y ago

> tl;dr: How do I invest in British real estate? Builders (e.g. Persimmon) and LSE-listed investment trusts buying land for development, assuming you mean residential. If you mean commercial, there's a wider choice of funds, developers, and management companies.

C1sc0cat 6y ago

And you assume that China will allow an orderly evacuation and allow HK residents to leave with their capital intact. This might be more like the ethnic cleansing that happened in Kenya and Uganda - where people where forced out leaving behind a lot of assets.

christoph 6y ago

I think you would have to be slightly crazy to invest in UK property right now. COVID is leading to mass lay offs across many sectors and destroying what little was left of the high streets. Add in lots more working from home - property values will probably, IMO, level out across the country rather than being concentrated heavily in the south east, London and major cities as less people need to commute. Why live close to London if you don’t need to travel in everyday? Businesses will then undoubtedly scale down or reduce the burden of commercial property with more homeworkers, etc. leading to an increase in available real estate, etc. Just my opinion.

tomp 6y ago

> The downsides are: driving up local housing prices, increased competition for jobs. No, no. Increasing housing prices are a long-standing policy in the UK (and many other Western countries, as evidenced by low credit rates and extra bonuses for mortgages) and a gift to many voters (whose personal wealth is tied to their homes), and would be a welcome boost in times of COVID. If the UK was afraid of brain drain of London's financial elite (UK's big "export" is finance) because of Brexit just a year ago, vacuuming up HK's financial elite would be a welcome counterweight.

fatjokes 6y ago
Nope, not buying those. Perhaps I should have defined "downside" with "for whom". > Increasing housing prices are a long-standing policy in the UK (and many other Western countries, as evidenced by low credit rates and extra bonuses for mortgages) and a gift to many voters (whose personal wealth is tied to their homes), and would be a welcome boost in times of COVID. Would you apply that same argument to say, Vancouver? Would you say their increased housing prices is a welcome boost? The locals certainly don't think so. > If the UK was afraid of brain drain of London's financial elite (UK's big "export" is finance) because of Brexit just a year ago, vacuuming up HK's financial elite would be a welcome counterweight. My understanding is that the "brain drain" is because the finance jobs would move to somewhere in the EU (and the expertise would simply move with them). It's not like they're leaving because the UK doesn't pay well in that sector (e.g., Canada vs. the US in the tech, medical sectors).