Why are country houses suddenly popular in Britain?

Text | Financial contributor Cheng Wei is from London.

Edit | Zhou Hao

There are two places with the same name in England, both of which are called Richmond. Chinese mainland translated it into Richmond, overseas Chinese translated it into Richmond, and some Cantonese-speaking Chinese translated it into "The Gate of the Rich".

One is Richmond, a small town in North Yorkshire, England. They claim to be the ancestors of 56 places with the same name in the world. One is Richmond, the most famous rich area in London, England.

Richmond, a small town in North Yorkshire, became the "tidal center" of British "COVID-19 real estate speculation" during the COVID-19 epidemic. Although it was a storm, the local residents still felt a little puzzled.

According to the latest official data of the British real estate registration agency, the house price of this small town with a population of less than 1000 people rose by 29% in 2020, which is the region with the highest price increase in Britain.

As for Richmond, London, where house prices are already high, the increase is not great in this wave of real estate speculation: in 2020, the house prices here only rose by 0.45%.

But the average house price in this wealthy London area across the Thames is 700,000 pounds, which is two and a half times that of the town of the same name in North Yorkshire.

Escape from the big city?

Richmond's two stories about housing prices are generally representative, at least in Britain.

This wave of buying houses in Britain triggered by the COVID-19 epidemic and the national blockade has its own characteristics:

First of all, some people buy houses actively, while others sell houses passively, because some industries and occupations are greatly affected by the epidemic, especially those that need to deal with people face to face at work, such as employers and employees of small catering businesses, small owners of non-daily necessities stores without online shopping facilities, and shopkeepers and employees of beauty salons and nail shops. Because some industries and occupations can work from home, their income has not decreased, but their savings may increase. Because of the blockade, they were unable to travel and spend, and they bought houses during the epidemic.

Secondly, during the epidemic blockade, both the government and employers encouraged those employees who could work remotely to work at home. The epidemic lasted for a year and a half, and the mode of working from home gradually became fixed. Even if the epidemic situation is greatly alleviated, many companies will not force their employees to work in the office full-time. Such a major and long-term change in working mode naturally induced many people to buy houses far away from the center of big cities, and also led to the rise of housing prices in suburbs, small towns and even rural areas of big cities, far exceeding the center of big cities.

For example, many white-collar workers crowded into office buildings in central London before the epidemic were happy to work from home during the epidemic. They don't have to drive through the narrow and crowded streets of London every day, or take long and crowded public transport to work in the same crowded office cubicle. They simply give up the small and expensive apartments rented in London and buy spacious and relatively cheap villas in the suburbs of London or London. Therefore, they

Richmond, a beautiful, quiet and leisurely town in North Yorkshire, England, is like this. During the epidemic, real estate speculators from several big cities nearby have pushed up house prices by nearly 30%.

Jonathan and Sarah, a young local couple, complained, "We live in a small village near Richmond, and we enjoy country life very much. We originally wanted to change a big house in this village, but the real estate speculators in other big cities have inflated the house prices here, making it impossible for us locals to afford a big house. "

Jonathan works in a local charity, while Sarah works in a hospital. Both of them have good jobs and incomes. Changing a big house in the village is not a distant dream. However, the strong demand for country villas brought by the epidemic blockade, as well as the beautiful scenery of Richmond itself and its surrounding areas, have caused real estate speculators in big cities with higher incomes to flock to crush Jonathan, Sarah and local people with the same income level to change houses.

This situation also occurs in other picturesque rural areas in the UK, for example, in Derbyshire Valley, North Norfolk, Cotswolds and other areas in the UK, house prices will rise by more than 20% in 2020.

Ben Queen Trail, a real estate agent, said: "The COVID-19 epidemic has prompted people to re-evaluate their lives and pay attention to what really matters, that is, family and housing. For many people, this means moving to rural or semi-rural areas. "

A recent survey by Halifax Bank in England confirmed Ben Queen Trail's statement. In the survey, the bank found that from March 2020 to June 20021year, the average house price around major British cities (excluding London) increased by 10.8%, while the house price in the city itself only increased by 8.9%.

Andrew Assam, who is in charge of mortgage loans at Halifax Bank, said that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the factors that affected the British real estate market were "buyers' demand for more space, their desire to move from the city center to the suburbs, and the trend of working from home. "

For example, in Plymouth, a coastal city in southwest England, house prices in the urban area rose by 5.8% during this period, while those in the surrounding areas soared16.1%; In the central city of Leicester, the house price in the urban area has increased by 6.5%, while the house price in the surrounding area is twice that in the urban area. In Rutland and melton, where there are many rural areas, the price increase is as high as 22.5%.

According to the data recently released by Hamptons, a British real estate agent, from June to June this year, Londoners bought 665,438+0,380 houses outside London, which is the highest number in any half year since 2006.

Anisha beveridge, director of Hampton Research Center, said: "The trend of urban migration driven by the COVID-19 epidemic shows no signs of slowing down. Now, Londoners want to buy a sea view room. Their ideal living environment is a wider, cleaner and less densely populated country. "

Housing supply is insufficient.

In addition to the above factors, there are three more important reasons for the general increase in housing prices outside big cities in Britain:

1. In order to stimulate the economy and property market hit hard by the epidemic, the British government has issued a series of policies to encourage people to buy houses, including reducing the stamp duty on house purchases;

Second, Britain and even the whole west have been in an unprecedented period of low interest rates for many years, which is of course a great positive factor for those Britons who borrow money from banks to buy real estate;

Generally speaking, villas and apartments listed in Britain have been in short supply. Due to various reasons, during the COVID-19 epidemic, houses available for sale in Britain became increasingly scarce and tense, not to mention those rural areas where residential land was already in short supply. According to industry insiders, the housing supply in the UK will not improve much in the foreseeable future, which naturally increases the upward pressure on housing prices.

According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the average number of properties on the books of real estate agents is close to the lowest level in history.

The data recently released by Zoopla, a British real estate rental and sales website, also verified this trend: the number of properties listed for sale in Britain is the least since 20 15 years, which is 26% less than the average level last year.

According to the website, there is a serious shortage of properties listed for sale, which has pushed up housing prices in many parts of the UK.

According to the latest house price index of Nationwide, Britain's largest building association, house prices in August this year rose by 2. 1% compared with July, the second largest monthly increase since 15. Analysts believe that this is mainly due to the shortage of real estate sold in the market.

Jeremy Liv, former head of the Housing Department of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and now a real estate agent in North London, said: "The supply of listed properties is in short supply, but banks provide too many mortgages, which leads to soaring house prices."

In Richmond, a picturesque town in North Yorkshire, England, the shortage of houses for sale is even more serious. Maggie Owen of Owen Real Estate, a local real estate agent, said that they only sold 32 properties at present, compared with over 100 a year ago.

"We do have the problem that the demand for real estate is in short supply. Like other organizations, we only have one or two properties for sale in a few weeks. The reason why those who plan to improve their houses are reluctant to sell is simple: they have no place to buy a house. " Maggie said.

London's "plutocrats" failed to turn the tide?

There are many people with the same name and surname, and there are many places with the same name and surname.

There are 56 places in the world called Richmond. As mentioned earlier, Chinese mainland was translated into Richmond, and overseas Chinese were translated into Richmond.

The list of the most influential place names in the English-speaking world listed by The Times Global Atlas shows that Richmond beat London to become the most influential place name in the English-speaking world.

There are more than 30 places called Richmond in the United States, five Richmond in South Africa, four Richmond in Jamaica, four Richmond in Australia, three Richmond in Canada and two Richmond in Britain.

Interestingly, some of them, such as Richmond in Greater Vancouver, Richmond Hill in greater toronto area, Richmond in Greater Melbourne and Richmond in Greater London, also have many Chinese residents.

It is said that many China people moved to these areas called Richmond because they took a fancy to the word formation of the English name Richmond. Some Cantonese-speaking Chinese even translate Richmond into "the door of riches", which is especially in line with the custom of overseas Chinese to attach importance to geomantic omen and auspicious names, just as they regard the number "8" as a homophonic "fat meat" to make a fortune. They think living in

But this is actually a misunderstanding. Richmond originally originated from the French riche-monte used by Normans, which means "powerful mountain". It is a town established in North Yorkshire on 107 1 after the Norman conquest of England. This town is the earliest Richmond in the world and has nothing to do with getting rich.

However, overseas Chinese eager to get rich are not interested in studying the exact etymology of Richmond. The most famous Richmond in the overseas Chinese world is probably Richmond in Greater Vancouver, Canada. The local Cantonese call their city "the Gate of the Rich". It is said that in the "Fuguimen" in Dawen area, Chinese account for more than half of the local population.

In 1990s, many Hong Kong people immigrated to Canada, and many of them chose to settle in the "Fuguimen" in Dawen, where famous Hong Kong artists Nicholas Tse and Edison Chen grew up. Over the years, more and more immigrants from Chinese mainland have come here, and many mainland immigrants even call it the "liberated area" of Canada.

Of course, the most famous Richmond in the world is Richmond, the capital of England, where there are also many rich immigrants from China. The Thames, Britain's "mother river", runs directly through this area. Richmond Park, the largest royal garden among the "Eight Royal Parks" in Britain, is located in this area. Hampton Palace, known as the Palace of Versailles, and Kew Garden, the Royal Botanical Garden, are also located in this area. Stars love to come here, and even call it Beverly Hills in England. The Sunday Times has just published Tettington Town.

However, in the latest wave of real estate speculation in Britain during the COVID-19 epidemic, Richmond in London performed poorly.

Richmond, London, is at the bottom of the sales speed list recently released by Rightmove, another popular real estate leasing and sales website in the UK.

As mentioned above, the house price in Richmond, London rose only slightly last year: 0.45%. In June this year, against the background that house prices in Britain rose by 4.5% and London rose by 2.5%, the house prices in Richmond, London actually fell by 0.4%.

In Richmond, London, there are other more complicated reasons for the slight increase or decrease of house prices besides the above-mentioned factors that Londoners moved out of the countryside during the epidemic.

Of course, the slight increase or decrease is not because the houses here are worthless, but because they are too valuable and there is no room for further appreciation.