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We’ve had Nimbies and Nondoms - now meet the newest breed of property investor…
BARBies - investors who Buy Abroad but Rent in Britain - are latest trend to hit the property market. Barbies are typically young FTBs who struggle to get on to the first rung of the UK property ladder and are forced to turn to another country, where they can take advantage of significantly lower property prices.
The rising BARBie trend is backed up by a recent survey by the insurer Hiscox, which revealed that:
- 40% of young people would consider buying abroad to get on to the property ladder.
- 37 per cent of under-35s surveyed feared that they would never be able to own a home in the UK.
Things appear to be changing though – years of huge price growth is creating a generational shift, with older, wealthier investors jumping on the BARBie bandwagon, not through financial necessity but as a deliberate investment decision.
Mark O'Sullivan, head of trading for foreign exchange broker Currencies Direct, comented: “We have noticed a rise in the number of older BARBies, lured either by the potential of making more money by investing in emerging markets abroad rather than in the UK, or by the chance to enhance their quality of life by selling up, downsizing to a rental property at home and buying outright abroad”.
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