More Hong Kong People are Leaving For UK

The third International Immigration and Property Expo was held in Hong Kong during the last two days (12-13 June 2022). The organizer confirmed that there are 35,000 users registering online for the entry to the exhibition. As compared the same event last year, there is an increase of 30% registered visitors and in which 79% of them said that they are considering to leave Hong Kong within 2 years.

66% of the Expo’s survey respondents have assets of more than HK$8 million (£835,000) and in which a 17% of them have more than HK$50 million (£5.22 million). As for families with a monthly income of more than HK$150,000 (£15,670), 30% of them have the tendency to emigrate, reflecting that wealthy families are more inclined to consider migrating overseas. Among all the different income levels, a total of 30% families will choose to leaving for UK.

More Hong Kong People are Leaving For UK
The third International Immigration and Property Expo was held in Hong Kong during the last two days (12-13 June 2022). The organizer confirmed that there are 35,000 users registering online for the entry to the exhibition. As compared the same event last year, there is an increase of 30% registered visitors and in which 79% of them said that they are considering to leave Hong Kong within 2 years.

The emigration wave of the Hong Kong people continues and it is estimated that it is yet to reach the peak. According to the statistics of the Hong Kong Immigration Department in the first quarter of this year (2022), the net outflow of Hong Kong people reached a recent high of 140,000.

The organizer of the third International Immigration and Property Expo has conducted a survey showing that 79% of the interviewed Hong Kongers planned to migrate to overseas within the coming two years while another 19% intended to leave Hong Kong within the next six months. The organizer pointed out that there are many reasons for Hong Kong people to emigrate and cannot be attributed solely to political issues in general. Indeed, better living environment and education quality are counted as vital factors driving Hong Kongers to leave for oversea countries. The director of the Expo further said that the number of visitors in the first and second exhibitions were 25,000 and 30,000 respectively. This year, which is the third exhibition, the registered visitors has been increased to 35,000. In addition, the number of exhibitors increased by 20% compared with the previous session.

UK as the Top Destination
According to the survey, the destination that draw the majority top attention is interesting the United Kingdom in which 31% of the interviewers are targeting for it while Canada and Australia are accounted for 22% and 21% respectively. From the numbers we can see that all of those highly targeted countries had recently launched new immigration policies that are for tailored for Hong Kong people.

Mostly are Wealthy and with Valuable Asset
66% of the survey respondents have assets of more than HK$8 million (£835,000) and in which a 17% of them have more than HK$50 million (£5.22 million). As for families with a monthly income of more than HK$150,000 (£15,670), 30% of them have the tendency to emigrate, reflecting that wealthy families are more inclined to consider migrating overseas. Among all the different income levels, a total of 30% families will choose to leaving for UK.

Continuous Trend of Emigration
Hong Kong was a former British colony and it acts as an international trading port and hub for decades. The city and its inhabitants have been heavily influenced by the UK and USA as well as have exposed to Western culture since their childhoods; therefore, most of them are very familiar with the Western lifestyle. With the lifeboat schema being offered by UK, Canada, USA . . . etc. to the Hong Kongers, there is a continuous wave of net outflow to the above countries.

The BNO immigration policy introduced by the UK has been deemed as the lowest threshold among other countries because, being a former British colony, Hong Kong people generally hold BNO. Thus, UK has become the most popular destination for Hong Kong people. In the past, it took 5 years for Hong Kong people to prepare and plan for their migration to a foreign country. Today, the data shows that many Hong Kong people have shortened the preparation time to 1.5 year.

The Impact to UK and its Property Market
It is believed that the rising number of Hong Kong immigrants in recent years is caused by a number of different push and pull factors. Nevertheless, it is no doubt that when many countries have offered the preferential immigration policies for Hong Kong people, that has certainly increased their desire to emigrate, especially their top destination – UK.

With the influx of new immigrants from Hong Kong who are bringing along with them their life-time savings, we can expect that the UK economy and its property market will be able to sustain a rising trend. We believe that the demand for housing for the purposes of owning and living, rental as well as investment can be kept strong. At this moment, we will say that it is still the golden opportunity for property investors to profit from this trend.