International Parents Love British Homes

Recently, student media group The Tab broke the news story of an international student at St Andrews, one of the most prestigious universities in the UK, being bought a property by her parents as she began her undergraduate studies.

The university, attended by royals Kate Middleton and Prince William, has a large international student community, but few students have gone quite as far as purchasing real estate in the local area. But why do international parents see British homes as worthy investments alongside their child's education?

Real estate agents Keystone, in their examination of a select group of educators, discovered that an increasing number of parents send their children to be educated in the United Kingdom. The prestigious nature of British public schools and universities are often cause enough for parents to enrol their children in well-known universities: and purchasing luxury real-estate is often simply another cost added to education. A child's academic career could last for the better part of a decade, and many international parents are now seeing the purchase of prime real estate as a worthy investment.

Of course, it's not just universities that this trend is limited to. International parents see the securing of a good school place as fundamental to their child's development and future prospects, The Guardian has reported, and the purchase of real estate in the surrounding areas is often key in ensuring a place at a good school. So far in 2018, international sales of British homes have brought in around $2bn profit, with a combined sale of over 2,500 properties. In highly sought after areas such as London, this real estate collection has become a power play for parents wanting to get their children into good schools, regardless of whether those homes will be lived in or not. Often, these houses are used as bases for children attending elite public schools such as Eton, Harrow or Westminster, or attending universities in the local area.

These luxury bases are quickly becoming an integral part of wealthy, overseas parents' property portfolios. In this academic year alone, a Chinese student purchased a £5m apartment in London as a base for their studies at UCL. Though university accommodation is being refurbished and revamped every year, for the wealthy, purchasing real estate for their children to live in while studying is becoming a new trend.