Expats from the United Kingdom in Hong Kong and Singapore are taking advantage of rising rents in the United Kingdom.

With Hong Kong and Singapore topping the list of the world's most expensive cities to live in, British expats are buying buy-to-let investments in the UK to take advantage of rising rents and long-term housing inflation back home. doha property finder

Since establishing a choice of buy-to-let mortgages for Brits living and working abroad, offshore bank Skipton International has seen a lot of interest from expats in Hong Kong and Singapore. According to the Mercer 2015 Cost of Living Survey, Asian countries are among the top four most expensive places for expats. Hong Kong is ranked second, and Singapore is ranked fourth, in the survey, which considers housing, transit, food, clothing, home goods, and entertainment.

According to the UK Government's English Housing Survey, buy-to-let landlords' prospects in the UK are improving as the private rental market continues to grow. It was discovered that 19% (4.4 million) of households rented privately in 2013-14, up from 18% the previous year and 11% in 2003, with young people aged 25-34 being more likely to rent privately than buy. For the younger generations, renting privately has become the norm.

Jim Coupe, Managing Director of Skipton International, stated, "Our British expat buy-to-let mortgages have sparked a lot of interest in Hong Kong and Singapore. There is an awareness that rental prices in the UK are continuing to climb, and that if you buy outside of London, you can get some high returns, which, when combined with long-term property price inflation, is an appealing possibility for many expats."

 

Four of the top five most expensive office markets in the world are in Asia.

Asia continued to dominate the world's most expensive office locations, accounting for four of the top five markets, according to CBRE's semi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report. The world's most expensive office market is still London's West End.

The overall prime occupancy prices in London's West End topped the'most costly' list, at US$267 per sq. ft. per year. Other than London's West End, Hong Kong (Central) is the only market in the world with a premier occupancy cost surpassing US$200 per sq. ft. per year, at US$254 per sq. ft. per year.

The top five locations were Beijing (Finance Street) ($196 per sq. ft.), Beijing (Central Business District (CBD)) ($188 per sq. ft.), and New Delhi (Connaught Place -CBD) ($157 per sq. ft.).

The slow recovery of the global economy was mirrored in the change in premium office occupancy pricing. Overall, global prime office occupancy expenses increased 2% year over year, with Asia Pacific rising 1.4 percent, reflecting the region's economic constraints over the last year.