INTEREST among Chinese buyers in buying U.K. property has surged since Britain voted to leave the European Union last month, as the pound’s slide has created opportunities to buy at a discount, real estate website juwai.com said yesterday.

    The number of Chinese enquiries about the British residential and commercial property market has been 30-40 percent higher than average in each week from June 20 to July 11, the website, which targets Chinese property investors looking abroad, said in a statement.

    The data show a sign of resurgence in demand from a top group of investors in a sector hit by a slowdown due to concerns over the impact of Brexit.

    “With politics stabilizing and a competent new government in place, Britain looks like the same old safe haven as ever — but cheaper,” said Bernie Morris, president of the U.K., Europe and Middle East for juwai.com.

    The four weeks were among the five strongest weeks of enquiries for the British market this year, according to the site, which gave no data on completed sales.

    Half of Chinese investors hit pause on their British property investment plans before the June 23 vote, with a crisis at home and uncertainty in Britain hurting appetites, a juwai.com survey last month showed.

    The chief motivator for the change of heart: the fall in the value of sterling against the U.S. dollar and the yuan has effectively brought down prices across the market.

    Sterling has lost 8 percent against the dollar and 6 percent against the yuan over the four-week period.

    Juwai.com’s upbeat view contrasts with developments in the British commercial property market since the referendum.

    (SD-Agencies)