Beating the banks at their own game

While many banks offer an overseas payments service the costs tend to be high, they often charge commission and the exchange rates they offer are far from being the best available. To overcome the shortcomings of banks and other organisations, and to help its clients too, the world’s leading service provider of expat mortgages for UK property has the solution.

www.liquidexpatmortgages.com/fx.php has joined forces with a major international exchange network to offer a cost effective and reliable service with the promise of beating major banks’ exchange rates by up to 5% and which complements the UK home mortgage service Liquid Expat Mortgages offers to its clients.

This can make a significant difference if, for example, you’re buying a London property with an expat mortgage. If you had to pay a £200,000 deposit on a £700,000 property this could mean an extra £10,000 for your money.

There are two main reasons why Liquid’s exchange network can make this claim. Firstly, they offer “live” rates as opposed to the banks’ rates which are typically fixed each. Secondly, because they deal in such large amounts of each currency they can get the best rates for clients.

While highly competitive exchange rates may be the headline reason to choose Liquid’s currency service, it’s by no means the only one. If you register today www.liquidexpatmortgages.com/fx.php you will also receive:

• Commission-free international payments – we are able to offer this because, unlike banks, the money is made on the exchange rate alone. We can also ensure that, in many countries, there will be no receiving charges for payments.
• Forward contracts – so you can fix the exchange rate for payments you’re due to pay in the future which is a very good idea if you’re buying an overseas property or making any other significant transaction.
• The services of a dedicated account manager – there’s nothing like personal service and help with choosing the best options to get you the most competitive deal.
• Proactive advice on hedging and risk management – the sort of advice that can ensure you never leave yourself exposed to the rises and falls of what can be a very volatile currency market.
• Free email currency market updates – to help you to keep fully abreast or movements, trends or events that could affect your money.
• Fast service – typically it takes between 1 and 5 days from the time that your sterling payment has cleared for your payment to be received by your destination bank.

Put your trust in Liquid Expat Mortgages and GCEN

Liquid has chosen to help its clients looking for a UK mortgage by linking up with Global Currency Exchange Network for a number of reasons. They are one of the world’s leading foreign exchange companies whose professionals have over 20 years’ experience in the field. For clients’ total peace of mind GCEN is authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and is regulated by HM Revenue and Customs. You can also be certain that your funds are totally secure in transit as they will be held in a Barclays client account before transfer to your destination bank.

So if you need to make an overseas transfer, set up a regular payment – for example for an expat bank – or even to pay for an UK property you can trust Liquid to make it a smooth, cost-effective and efficient experience.

To find out more, just visit www.liquidexpatmortgages.com/fx.php or call them on +44 (0) 161 633 5009 today.

Keep up to date with Liquid: visit www.liquidexpatmortgages.com, follow their news on Twitter, “like” their Facebook page or subscribe to their RSS news feed.

This move is part of Liquid’s long term strategy to make borrowing easier for expats by constantly seeking new and more competitive UK mortgages on their behalf. Already a great breakthrough has been made in securing an exclusive buy to let mortgage from Marsden Building Society offering up to 80% Loan To Value [LTV]. Generally expat buy to let mortgages have a maximum LTV of 70%.

Under the terms of the deal Liquid Expat Mortgages will become the sole introducer for all of the building society’s residential and buy-to-let mortgages for expats looking to buy property in the UK. By establishing a seamless relationship with the building society’s lending and underwriting departments Liquid can promise the highest levels of service and clear lines of communication between borrower and lender.

Two experts in their fields offer one great service

Liquid Expat Mortgages is the UK’s leading provider of mortgage services for expats. Based in Manchester, the company was established in 2006 and has worldwide representative offices in both Canada and Dubai.

Marsden is Lancashire’s largest mutual building society which was originally formed in 1860 and has its headquarters in Nelson, near Burnley in Lancashire.

Liquid’s Business Development Director, Stuart Marshall, commented on the deal, “We’re delighted to be working with such a long-established building society and believe that it will bring many benefits to our clients. As exclusive introducer we aim to be able to offer expats the kinds of mortgage deals they may not be able to find anywhere else.

“Plus, it’s a real breath of fresh air to be working with a building society that positively embraces expatriate customers.”

Expat UK mortgage rates from as low as 3.79%*

Liquid Expat Mortgages is launching the new mortgage products with Marsden Building Society giving exclusive access for British expat mortgage hunters to some truly market-leading deals.

For example, there is a choice of both residential and buy to let mortgages which are available at up to 80% Loan to Value – the highest currently available in the market. This is available on a repayment or an interest-only basis; although this is not available on new-build flats.

The rate on an expat mortgage can be as low as 3.79%*.

With mortgage rate rises a forecasted possibility in the next few months (recently predicted by Bank of England Markets Chief, Paul Fisher in an interview with the Telegraph) and with a number of lenders including First Direct and Skipton Building Society withdrawing their best fixed mortgage offers, as reported in the Financial Times on 18th January 2011, Liquid is delivering good news to expats looking to fix a rate for the next few years.

As an exclusive offer available only through Liquid Expat Mortgages, there is the option to fix the rate at just 5.69%* until 2017 for a buy to let mortgage at 80% Loan to Value.

Not surprisingly, the funds available for all these special deals are strictly limited will be available on a “first come, first served” basis.

Clients choosing to mortgage through Liquid and Marsden are also assured of the very best levels of service, which can be especially important for expats trying to arrange a UK property purchase from abroad.

As Stuart Marshall of Liquid says, “Our clients can be confident that we will help them every step of the way. We also aim to introduce more great offers for them in what, we are confident will be a long and successful relationship between Liquid and Marsden Building Society.”

To find out more about all the mortgage deals available for expats through Liquid, just visit http://www.liquidexpatmortgages.com/contact.php or call them on +44 (0) 161 633 5009 today.

*Subject to individual application.

Note that Liquid Expat Mortgages do not offer advice on any regulated products.

As anyone who has ever applied for an expat UK mortgage will know from bitter experience, these can be hard to come by, to say the least. Banks regard applicants as a bigger risk than residents with UK property and cite the difficulty of pursuing mortgage defaulters overseas as justification for the higher interest rates they charge for this kind of UK home loan.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, certain lenders (for example, Nationwide) have recently begun loading existing customers’ mortgage rates for UK properties by up to 1.5% p.a once their fixed-rate periods expire. Lenders are realising that the borrower is living overseas and have UK property to let. In many cases this can make it uneconomic to rent out the property in question, particularly if it means that the mortgage repayments become greater than the rental income being received.

UK Base Rate rises loom

Add to this the fact that, following the January’s announcement that UK inflation is currently running at 3.7% there is a very real chance that the Bank of England will react by raising its base rate. If this happens, an even more worrying outlook emerges for expat mortgage holders looking to safeguard their assets back in the UK.

In fact, according to statement made in an interview with the Daily Telegraph on 22nd December 2010 by Paul Fisher in his capacity as executive director of markets and member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, the rise could be dramatic.

Mr Fisher claimed that in order to “normalise” rates it could be raised ten-fold in 2011 to 5%. He went on to say that this rise was likely to happen early in 2011. If it does, it will mean that people would find that higher UK mortgage rates will mean they’re spending more of their disposable income on debt interest than they have in 20 years.

Another member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, Andrew Sentance, was quoted in the Daily Telegraph on 27th November 2010 as saying the reason for any possible base rate rise could be concern about inflation rate.

But even though it may all seem like doom and gloom, there is a ray of hope and it is being provided by www.liquidexpatmortgages.com – the world’s leading service provider of expat mortgages for UK property.

Liquid’s Business Development Director, Stuart Marshall, takes up the story: “We’ve received a great deal of anecdotal and actual evidence that a number of lenders are tightening the screw on ex pats with UK mortgages. The economic outlook can only mean that the situation is set to get worse.

5 Year Fixed rates Re-mortgages from just 4.05% currently available.

“But, looking on the bright side, some of the more enlightened lenders whose products we are able to access are introducing expat UK mortgages which are more than competitive. For example one of the big lenders is currently offering a fixed rate mortgage of 4.05% for a 5 year period. Another is offering an even lower tracker rate of 1.99% above UK base rate for 2 years. Generally speaking, the lower loan to value re-mortgage attracts the more competitive rate.

“Alternatively, you can obtain a 5 year fixed rate mortgage for a Buy to Let UK purchase at 5.49% at 80% loan to value.”

Liquid has also become the exclusive broker for expat UK mortgages for a UK Building Society and they will be releasing further details in the next week. To keep informed of this development you can follow Liquid’s news on Twitter, join their Facebook group or subscribe to their RSS news feed

Stuart Marshall concludes: “So great deals are out there if you know where to look and we are currently advising many of our clients that this could be the right time to re-mortgage. But we’re also recommending fast action because, if the Bank of England rate does rise, there’s no telling how quickly lenders’ rates for expat mortgages will follow suit.”

To find out more about the mortgage deals available for expats through Liquid, simply call them on +44 (0) 161 633 5009 today.

Then, when you’ve found the ideal place, the next hurdle is sorting out an expat mortgage to buy it. In fact sorting out the UK finance for any kind of expat property deal is as important, if not more important, than finding the property itself. After all, it’s only when you have the finance agreed – if only in principle – that you can begin to negotiate in earnest.

Expat mortgages and everything to do with UK property buying for expats might sound complicated, but there’s plenty of help out there for you.

So let mortgages for expats expert Stuart Marshall from www.Liquidexpatmortgages.com give you a few pointers towards how to start searching for a property online and how to reduce the hassles of raising an expat mortgage on the property.

There are plenty of property websites to help you kick start your search, whether you’re an expat buying to let or looking for a residential property in the UK.

Though by no means a definitive list, here’s an overview of five of the main sites our clients have told us they have found particularly helpful in their search for UK property.

Zoopla.co.uk
This is one of the newer property websites and has the look and feel of a social networking site. Its design means it’s less confusing to navigate around than many other sites.

There’s a ‘listing history tool’ which shows you, at a glance, how long a property’s been on the site and also shows whether the asking price has changed over this period.

There’s also a very useful value index that estimates the value of any single property in the UK, not just what is on the market. This makes the site a good starting point for any expat looking for UK property as it lets you build up a picture of the prices you can expect in a certain area.

Rightmove.co.uk
This is probably one of the most established property websites and claims to feature over 90% of all properties for sale in the UK. A unique element of the site is the way it lets you to search within a general area, instead of by postcode.

Another very useful feature is the access it gives to actual selling prices as held on the UK Land Registry Website. This is certainly helpful in assessing the difference between the asking and selling prices of properties in the UK.

Findaproperty.com
This site provides a useful ‘information news pack’ for every property which includes general property news, as well as house price and affordability price trends which are updated monthly. There’s also a summary of council tax rates, local schools and comments about the social make-up of an area.
Uniquely, it also shows the difference between property values and the mortgages held on them.

One of the key benefits of using this site is that it also links with Google Street view to give you a 360o view of a property’s exterior and surrounding area.

Globrix.com
This is the site for expats looking for UK property who have a very clear view of their needs.

You can set very specific criteria for the property search – for example by asking for details of properties with a swimming pool or a granny flat. The only drawback is that the search concentrates on your ‘individual criteria’ so it can generate properties that are outside your preferred areas.

Primelocation.com
As the name suggests, the focus of this site is on higher end, more luxurious properties for sale in the UK,

The site is attractive to look at with a number of photos for each property. If you want to feel as though you are browsing through a luxurious glossy Homes & Gardens-style magazine for property, then this is the place for you.

Raising an expat UK Mortgage
OK, so you’ve found some sites to start looking for UK properties for expats. Now the next issue to address is raising an expat mortgage.

This isn’t as complicated as it sounds so don’t be put off, or misinformed, by what you may have heard from overseas banks, fellow expats who have had their fingers burnt or what you’ve read on the internet.

With the right advice and support, securing an expat mortgage is a simple straightforward process. But getting this support is vital and that’s where a well connected experts such as www.liquidexpatmortgages.com can prove to be invaluable.

By using a broker registered with the FSA in the UK you’ll enjoy a number of advantages compared with trying to find a mortgage on your own. These include:

• The choice of a range of mortgage options from a number of lenders.
• The flexibility to choose precisely the right kind of expat mortgage to meet your needs.
• Knowledge and experience of dealing with expats whether they’re looking for residential or buy-to-let property.
• A presence in the UK so even if you’re overseas, your mortgage broker won’t be.
• The security of knowing that your broker is regulated by the FSA.

Despite all these facts, many believe that they will be better off talking to their own bank in the UK about an expat home loan. Experience over the last couple of years has shown that this is not necessarily the case. With banks everywhere tightening their lending criteria your years of loyal custom might count for little when it comes down to it, whereas a broker will know who’s lending and what kind of custom they’re trying to attract.

Another common misconception is that you should have your firm offer on a UK property accepted before you start to sort out the finance. Most brokers, Liquid included, will tell you the importance of having finance agreed, if only in principle, before you start to make offers. There are three very good reasons for this:

1. It proves to the seller that you are serious about buying.
2. This leads to greater negotiating power.
3. Thirdly, it speeds up the whole buying process.

These reasons, and the fact that getting an outline finance agreement costs nothing and involves no obligation, mean that you’ve nothing to lose by talking to a an expat mortgages broker like Liquid at the earliest opportunity.

It should save you a whole lot of time, hassle and even money in the long run.

The Bank of England has voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5% amid concerns over the strength of the economic recovery. This is again further positive for expats who have Interest Only buy to let tracker UK mortgages where the continuing and historical low bank of england base rates allows the excess rental income to pay more off the capital outstanding. This also means the net rental yields from UK and London property is buoyed by the historically low interest rates.

The decision by the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) means rates will stay at their current record low for an 18th month. Stuart Marshall from Liquid Expat Mortgage comments that whilst bank of England base rates have been historically low for over a year and a half and all the latest signals from the Bank of England suggest this to remain so for the foreseeable future, lenders are yet to reflect this in their pricing for two and three year fixed rate mortgages.

Inflation remains well above the bank’s target rate of 2% on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure, at 3.2%

Expat whom are looking to remortgage from their lenders current standard variable rate should look at the available UK and Offshore tracker mortgages available to them and compare them against the available fixed rate mortgage.

Having a current or previous Uk credit history is not a pre-requisite to obtain a UK mortgage, however in certain circumstances it can allow an Expat to secure more competitive and flexible mortgage terms than those on offer by an Offshore or International Lenders whom generally do not require a credit check!

Stuart Marshall, Business Development Director of Liquid Expat Mortgages provides an insight into this often misunderstood issue and provides several examples of how a UK credit history can help and ways an expat can improve their UK credit history whilst living and working overseas.

Whether you are a British Expat or Foreign National looking to invest in a UK property with the need of a mortgage, then it is NOT essential that you have a credit history or report in the UK. The key reason for this is because most UK and Offshore lenders only require your address history for the last three years. Many expats have been working overseas for at least this time and therefore the finance companies are not able to run a credit check through the likes of Experian and/or Equifax. Obviously Foreign Nationals whom have never resided in the UK do not have a historical credit file and the appropriate Offshore banks and lending institutions recognise this fact in their application and underwriting procedures. Liquid Expat Mortgages has helped hundreds of clients from all corners of the globe secure UK Mortgages whom have either never lived in the UK or have been an expat for many years and have no current or recent connections with the UK. The mortgages arranged for Expat clients are both buy to let, main residential and self build mortgages.

The UK credit history and report does become an important consideration when an Expat has been living in the UK at any point in the last three years and they are looking to secure a more competitive deal from a UK lender, as opposed to an offshore lender. Moreover, many expats may still have an existing UK address they continue to keep as their banking correspondence address and as such, allow UK lenders to credit search them at this location and fulfil the lenders credit scoring procedure. Many expats keep their parents address as a UK banking address for their correspondence. This helps clients whom are wanting to get back on the UK property ladder and are looking for lenders whom do not impose a minimum £100,000 loan amount and are looking for mortgage deals that do not have bank arrangement fees of 1% which many of the offshore and international banks charge.

The UK providers of mortgages whom can often make the application process much quicker for Expats looking for either buy to let or main residential mortgages are more likely to have lower arrangement fees, more competitive interest rates and a wider choice of availability of fixed rate and tracker mortgages.

Three quick tips on how an Expat can create and improve their UK Credit Score ?

1) Either maintain a UK address for banking correspondence or reinstate one back in the UK, e.g. your Parents address back in the UK. This allows a UK lender to credit score your application at a UK address and broadens the available mortgage options to you.

2) Before you apply for UK credit, get a copy of your credit file from either Experian (www.experian.com), Equifax (www.equifax.com) or CallCredit (www.callcredit.co.uk). All three offer instant access to your statutory £2 credit report online. You simply need to complete an application on their websites and you will instantly have access to your credit file. Once you have reviewed, feel free to forward this to your mortgage broker so they can understand any potential issues they need to consider before applying.

3) Dealing with any late payments or previous CCJ’s. If as an expat you may have missed a payment due to relocation or re-organising your finances when living overseas, then you can apply for a ‘notice of correction’ to be applied to your credit report. This is a 200 word statement which explains why payments were missed. For example, they have always met repayments on time in the past but moving or working overseas meant they had a period when their hectic life meant one or two repayments got missed. You will need to explain that now that you are settled working abroad, all financial commitments for repayments are in order and back up to date.

If you are an Expat or Foreign National looking to raise a Mortgage to help secure a UK mortgage or are simply looking to remortgage an existing loan, please contact stuart@liquidexpatmortgages.com or call
+44 161 633 5009

The governor of the Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, has said he is more concerned about the strength of the recovery than inflation.

His comments, made during an appearance in front of the House of Commons’ Treasury Select Committee, suggest he believes interest rates should stay low for the foreseeable future. Stuart Marshall from Liquid Expat Mortgages suggests that with several tracker mortgages available to expats starting at 2.39% above Base Rate with low arrangement fees of £500, this is positive news to expats whom are either looking to get back on the UK property ladder or purchase a second home.

Mr King said he could not be confident that growth was firmly established.

Latest figures show the UK economy grew by 1.1% in the second quarter.

The gross domestic product (GDP) figures were stronger than had been expected.

But Mr King said there was no pressing need to rein in rising growth or curb inflation. He said: “The debate is about the appropriate degree of stimulus, not about applying brakes.”

The latest minutes from the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which sets interest rates, showed one member out of eight voted to raise rates from their current level of 0.5% to curb inflation. With fixed rate mortgages available to expats for buy to let and main residential mortgages starting at 4.2% plus, this may place low rate tracker mortgages in a new light.

The central bank governor’s comments were in harmony with a report from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

For more information available on UK mortgages for expats, please contact Stuart Marshall, Business Development Director of www.liquidexpatmortgages.com or email stuart@liquidexpatmortgages.com

The Ernst & Young Item Club said rates would need to be kept low to counter-balance the government’s spending cuts.

“A base rate of 0.5% will begin to look like the new normal,” Professor Peter Spencer from the Item Club said.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said that it expects rates to start to rise next year.

Interest rates have stood at 0.5% since March 2009.

“The new coalition’s plans to cut the deficit are certainly ambitious,” said Prof Spencer.

“On the assumption that the government is able to implement the overall reduction of £40bn set out in the Budget, we expect that UK growth will struggle to reach 1% this year but will gradually speed up in the following years to give the UK a high-quality recovery based on trade and investment.”

The Item Club believes the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation will stay above the Bank of England’s 2% target over the next 18 months, helped by high energy prices and increases in VAT.

But it says inflation will then fall “well below 2% as these effects wear off and spare capacity bears down on pricing decisions and wage bargaining”.

“To prevent CPI inflation moving below 1% it will be necessary keep the Bank base rate low at 0.5% for much longer than the OBR and the markets have anticipated,” Item said. Stuart Marshall from Liquid Expat Mortgages comments that the prospect of low base rates for their Expat Borrowers is certainly good for those currently on base rate trackers.

Now that university students are finishing their exams and turning their attention to where they will live for the next year or two, this is the ideal time for parents to consider the benefits of investing in UK buy-to-let student housing.

A combination of factors such as the uncertainty of the current economic climate, favourable exchange rates back to GBP Sterling and the low cost of UK housing at the moment, provide the perfect opportunity for Expat parents to find a competitive deal on buying a UK property. When you look at these factors with the historically low UK base rate, it’s probably fair to say that if your child or children are at University this is a good time to consider purchasing a UK property as opposed to renting.

The student housing market is a resilient one right across the UK. There is always a massive demand for good-quality housing to accommodate the thousands of students who live in the cities during term-time. With more students than ever before now attending UK universities, there is a severe shortage of property, as many universities are already near capacity. Liquid Expat Mortgages explains that overseas buyers can even be looking to secure a UK property for their children’s future UK University up to 10 years before they will be attending. Stuart Marshall comments this is particulary common for overseas buyers from the Far East who will simply rent the property out in the Buy to Let market before their children reach the relevant age and attend one of the London Universities.

There are many benefits which you could take advantage of when purchasing UK property. For instance, if you put the property in your child’s name and they plan on living in the property throughout university, there is no capital gains tax to pay. Additionally, the rent-a-room scheme allows your child to rent out a room and earn up to £4,250 per year tax-free.

Parents could remortgage their UK or Overseas property in order to buy a property in their child’s name, but it is necessary to seek the advice of an independent financial adviser before taking any major steps. An IFA will be able to explain all the available options and offer guidance on how to go about purchasing a second (or First) UK property.

Location is a key factor when choosing your property. Parents should only consider purchasing property in densely populated student areas and where nightlife is lively and where there is easy access to campuses and colleges.

The recommendation is to purchase a house rather than a flat, as students will enjoy a greater sense of community living in a shared house. If the child you are buying the property for already knows which friends they want to live with, you already have a ready-made set of guaranteed tenants, which is ideal.

However, there are significant tax and legal implications to bear in mind when renting a property to students. Landlords have to pay income tax on the revenue generated from rent, while other practicalities include gas and electricity safety certificates, landlords’ insurance, and multiple occupancy licences. You may also have to chase your rent and be prepared to pay a substantial amount for the general maintenance of the property.

It really is worth making the most of this opportunity while UK property prices are currently low as they won’t always stay this low, but remember that property doesn’t work as a short-term investment. It is a long-term commitment which will require ongoing maintenance, which can often be long after your child’s three years at university are over, so make sure that you ask for an IFA’s advice before you make your decision

Savills, one of the countries largest estate agents, said that 55 per cent of all properties in London worth more than £750,000 that it sold were bought by foreigners this year, compared with 45 per when the housing market hit its peak during 2007. Stuart Marshall, Business Development Director at www.liquidexpatmortgages.com confirms the British Expats and Foreign Nationals are benefiting from their favourable exchange rate back to GBP, available deposits, genuine choice and access to UK and offshore mortgage lending means because the investment/equity markets are still perceived as volatile, investing back into UK property remains a popular and simple investment choice/strategy.

Though large houses and upmarket flats have often been bought by foreigners in London, this is the first time that an estate agent has said that more than half its clients are from overseas.

Liquid Expat Mortgages, specialists in arranging UK and Offshore Finance for Expats and Foreign Nationals, confirms London and UK property market below £750,000 is still a hugely popular mortgage requirement for their clients. The combination of lending requirements for both Buy to let purchases and also to secure a home prior to an expats return remains the core of their new purchase enquiries. A recent trend has seen many overseas buyers looking for a piece of London real estate that can be bought and let out prior to their children looking to study at a London University in the future.

The statistics come just a week after rival firm Knight Frank said that 46 per cent of buyers of “prime property” in central London were foreign.

The falling value of the pound has been the main cause, encouraging rich foreigners to buy homes in the capital as an investment.

Experts said the number of wealthy Russians, Italians, French and Middle Eastern buyers were helping the top end of London avoid the wobble in house prices, which had affected the rest of the country. But they warned that it could distort the market, pushing up prices of large family homes at the expense of long-term residents of the capital.

According to the Land Registry, prices in London have increased by 14 per cent over the last year, considerably higher than the national average increase of 8.5 per cent. Some areas, particularly in the north east of England have seen a substantial fall.

Simon Rubinsohn, the chief economist at Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: “Are there ill effects and distortions in the market by foreign buyers snapping up high-end properties in London? There may well be in certain areas.”

Wealthy foreign buyers have part of the property scene in London for decades, especially in areas such as Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair, where prices have risen so high most families cannot afford to live there. Most residents in these areas are international businessmen, many on short-term leases. Many of the properties are purely investments and remain empty. Stuart Marshall, Business Development Director at www.liquidexpatmortgages.com, states that many of their clients are purchasing London Property below £500,000 as purely a buy to let investment, with yields above 5% and genuine possibilities of capital growth in the short to medium term.

Savills said that what was eye-catching was that international buyers, who previously had dominated the market for properties worth £2 million or more, were starting to look at less expensive homes, down to £750,000 – the price of a four-bed home in many parts of London, not just the very centre.

Yolande Barnes, head of Savills residential research, said: “The weakness of sterling, and the consequently strong purchasing power of foreign currency buyers, has undoubtedly fuelled this rise and international buyer demand remains robust. By the end of March 2010 property prices were 10 per cent lower than their peak for sterling buyers, but in US dollar and euro terms they remained 33 per cent and 30 per cent below their peak respectively.”