New statistics have revealed that houses in Oxford are increasingly being sold to foreign investors.International buyers have purchased 40% of the city’s best properties.Â
Damian Gray, from estate agents Knight Frank, told Cherwell, “Over the last twelve months we have sold property in Oxford to over 13 different nationalities, with a marked increase of buyer interest from Russia and Asia.”
He suggested that this surge could be due to Oxford’s international reputation as a cultural hub of the United Kingdom, although the economic stability of the city’s property market is also an attraction.Â
Gray commented that buyers are also often drawn by the “knowledge that their investment in Oxford would appear to be extremely resilient to any downturn in market conditions.”
Mark Crampton Smith, a partner of College and County agreed, stating that the property market here is “perceived as a safe place both physically and economically.”
Local authorities expressed concerns that the increase in foreign homeowners will have a negative effect on the city. Many of the purchases will be used as second homes, leaving the properties largely uninhabited.Â
Councillor Edward Turner told Cherwell that this is “not a new situation,” but “if homes are being bought by foreign purchasers that means there are fewer available for others who need to live in Oxford, be they local families, students or those who are here to work.”
He linked this to the issue of the lack of capacity in the city and an unwillingness to expand, arguing that this was the “real problem, since the coalition government caved into those opposed to new housing to the south east of the city.”
One student shared his grieviances with Cherwell, commenting, “It is frustrating to know that whilst we spend hours searching for affordable housing properties are lying empty.”
