Foreign-owned properties in Southwark are most likely to belong to Hongkongers, according to a recent report.
The report by estate agents Benham & Reeves found that people from the Chinese city-state made up 21% of foreign property-owners in the borough.
Hongkongers came out top in seventeen London boroughs including Tower Hamlets (26%), Newham (24%), Lewisham (23%), Hackney (23%), Greenwich (22%) and Islington (20%).
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UK properties are bought up by Hongkongers because of centuries-old imperial ties, the fall of the pound and Chinese government persecution.
In 2019, the People’s Republic of China introduced an extradition law amendment bill which allowed Hong Kong law-breakers to be extradited to mainland China for the first time.
Violent protests followed, resulting in the 2020 Hong Kong national security law, which critics say curtailed personal freedoms, and thousands fled to the UK, many buying property.
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But since well before 2020, the UK has been a popular destination for Hongkongers, especially those who already held British National (Overseas) (BNO) citizenship.
Created in 1987, BN(O) passports allow Hong Kong citizens more rights regarding access to public services, employment, and is a pathway to full citizenship.
However, think tank Civitas has argued wealthy foreign property investment has inflated house prices for native Brits.
MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark Neil Coyle, who has previously criticised Russian foreign property for that same reason, said Hong Kong property ownership was different.
The Labour MP told the News: “People using their own earnings to buy a family home is quite different to the inflated sums used to launder ill-gotten gains in Putin’s corrupted Russia.”
A House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report has previously said: “President Putin and his allies have been able to continue “business as usual” by hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London.”
Neil Coyle said: “The committee report specifically targeted the Russian payments used to clean criminal or illicit funds.
“This is a world away from Hong Kong where people are fleeing persecution and the end of democracy under authoritarian rule from the People’s Republic of China.”
Why is this allowed that Chinese are a able to buy council homes,when there a problem with the housing and there family waiting for homes but they can just buy them ,this is bad