BoroYank

Hello all, first time poster and glad I came across this site.

I'm a duel citizen of UK/US and have lived in the States for 15 years. I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me out. I haven't had much to do with the UK but that's my bad and I'd like to look at purchasing a home there. What is the best way to start taking the steps to do this? Do I need to start paying NI, incur bills in the UK etc?

I appreciate my questions may not be clear cut, but hoping someone can help to get a conversation started on this subject.

Thank you.

Sally Redux

Are you talking about getting a mortgage? They usually want 3 years' residence in the UK, a deposit and proof of income. If you are buying cash, not sure if there are any special requirements.

BritInParis

If you're buying a property in the UK in cash then you'll be required to pay council tax. Homes left empty were usually exempt from council tax or received a discount but due to large numbers of properties being bought up by foreign buyers as a speculative investments and then left empty for long periods of time then many councils now charge the same rate or ever more than for occupied properties. You'll need to check the local council website for the area in which you wish to buy.

Unless you residing in the UK then you won't be liable for income tax or NI contributions. You'll be liable for any utility bills associated with your property but if you're not living in it (i.e. electricity and gas are off) then this should be minimal.

Pulaski

Would you care to give us a bit of background as to why you are looking to buy in the UK? Unless you currently own a home in SF, greater NYC, or around DC, you will find the prices insanely expensive. I sold a 700sqft row house in London for almost $400k, but that was 14 years ago and today it would sell for about twice as much.

My mother owns a medium sized duplex most houses in the UK are in rows or are duplexes aka "semi (detached)", of about 1,200 sqft in an unremarkable suburb of a medium sized city in the SW of England (about two hours from London), and it is worth about $400k today!

Sally Redux

In other words, they are a better investment than the cheap houses in Nowheresville that nobody wants.

Pulaski

To be attractive, an investment needs to have upside potential. I don't see much upside potential in most of the UK housing stock.

christmasoompa

Really?! Given how prices are rising (and have risen over the past few years) in most of the UK I'm surprised by that tbh.

BritInParis

Thousands of Russian, Chinese and Qatari multimillionaires would disagree with you.

Pulaski

You may be right, but I generally don't take my investment advice from communists, albeit reformed ones. I read last week that 70% of quoted Chinese equities are trading at a P/E ration of over 50, 40% are trading at a P/E ratio of over 100. The NYSE is at about 21. ..... And the Chinese economy is stagnating rapidly. Something is going to knock the stock markets for six, and at the moment I am thinking that it will be when reality hits the Chinese markets.
What multimillionaires do is not indicative of the wholemarket, and for the market as a whole (overwhelmingly homes for "ordinary people") is not possible for house prices to increase at a faster rate than income, eventually the rises in house prices must at very least level off and track increase in income. In practice there are usually periods of house price declines, "corrections" you might say, when prices drop, as happened between 1990 and 1995 when prices declined for several consecutive years.

Sally Redux

Bullshit baffles brains.

BritInParis

None of which prevents investing in the London property market being an excellent investment idea.

MarylandNed

The value of my brother's house in NW London rose by 20% last year and he's seeing the same increases in his area this year.

Pulaski

I am not surprised that prices are going up, and I am sure they will continue to do do, ..... until they don't. Then things can get ugly very quickly because houses are relatively illiquid and finding a buyer in a falling market can be tricky.

In other words, I didn't say there was no upside potential, but personally I doubt there is much. Not that it matters either way to me as I am not planning to buy a house in the UK, nor do I own one.

christmasoompa

Prices may decline for a short time, but I'd disagree that 'ordinary people' can't see house prices increase at a faster rate than income, given our house has more than doubled in value in the past 4 years since we've bought it. Some of that is due to improvements we've made, but a lot is due to market rise.

We're not planning on moving for 30+ years or until our children kick us out to put us in a home so it's not relevant to us anyway, but whilst prices may dip, or level out, they would have to fall a heck of a long way for us to lose money on it, even if we did plan to sell. For us to be in negative equity, the market would have to fall by 60% now (more if prices keep rising before they dip) and I just can't see that happening, particularly as economists seem to be predicting around 4-5% rises for the next 5 years.

Pulaski

I should have said "long term". Houses only have value if you can sell them to people who can afford to buy them, so ultimately the value of houses cannot increase above what people can afford to pay.

I know that prices can "run up" over a number of years, but eventually the prices must either level out, or drop back, if people can't afford to buy them. The just must. ..... It's similar to bull markets in the stock exchange: eventually prices get ahead of themselves and there is a correction or slump. ...... Are you denying that prices dropped in the early 90's in the UK or post 2008 in the US?