Asian Investors in the UK Undeterred by Brexit
 
May 07, 2017
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Almost a year on from the UK’s referendum on EU membership, despite widely predicted chaos and uncertainty in the market, investors are still lining up to invest in key areas of the UK market.

Property

Property investments from Asia remain strong. Many regard the property market as a cornerstone of a successful investment portfolio and the UK has long been regarded as a desirable destination with Asian investors accounting for a greater proportion of residents in London’s super-rich districts. While London continues to attract strong investment owing to its international reputation, other areas of the UK are also seeing an increase in investments from Asia. This is, in part, due to more focused investments resulting from, among other things, property companies increasingly attracting investors by use of a blogger outreach service. Services like this allow property companies to offer a more personal take on the attractiveness of less internationally recognised areas of the UK and perhaps less obvious property investment opportunities.

Technology

Since the Brexit vote, the other surprise election outcome with widely predicted negative results for international markets has been the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency. However, his flip-flopping, which has included direct threats against China and accusations that the country is a “currency manipulator” might prove to be a boon for the UK technology market. Coupled with a weaker pound, this has made the UK a very attractive prospect for investors looking to add to their portfolios from this sector of the market. Some are predicting that Asian investment in the UK technology market could double to £93bn this year with Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank having already struck a £24bn deal with ARM, one of the UKs most successful and internationally recognisable brands.

Hospitality

After a disappointing year in 2016, experts are predicting a blockbuster year for the UK’s hospitality market. This is something investors from Asia seem particularly keen on, although the sector is predicted to remain subdued until Britain has finalised its exit deal with the EU. While the nature of the deal remains a source of speculation, and the uncertainty continues to depress markets, current indications are that China, Hong Kong and Japan are all continuing to invest heavily in UK hotels, with London again benefitting particularly from an influx of money. Northern Ireland is also set to benefit from an increase in investment from Asia. Belfast has seen a dramatic rise in the number of overseas visitors from the region and this has been reflected in an increase in the number of people from Asia looking to emigrate and take advantage of the UK’s world leading universities and strong education system.

The UK continues to defy expectations and predictions made before the referendum and remains an attractive investment opportunity. And, with the pound unlikely to rally, at least until a final deal has been struck with the EU, there is a fantastic window of opportunity for investors seeking a bargain in any of the aforementioned sectors of the UK market.