Radical plans to stop rich overseas residents who live outside the EU buying British houses – as well as tight restrictions on them acquiring "newbuild" properties as investments – will be published in a report by a leading rightwing thinktank on Monday.
Free-market organisation Civitas castigates government ministers for allowing wealthy foreign investors to stoke a property boom that it says is driving up prices and locking millions of UK citizens out of the housing market.
The plans would prevent the likes of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, or other Russian oligarchs from adding to their multimillion-pound UK portfolios. They also aim to stem a flood of investment from countries such as China, Malaysia and Singapore.
Concerned that many middle and lower earners are being forced to pay high rents in London because they can't afford to buy, Civitas calls on ministers to adopt a scheme similar to one operating in Australia, which ensures that no sale can take place to overseas buyers unless they can show that their investment will add to existing housing stock.
Such a system would mean that no existing home could be sold to a buyer from outside the EU, and that such buyers could acquire newbuild homes only if their investment led to one or more additional properties being built. » | Toby Helm, political editor | Saturday, February 01, 2014
