On November 8, the US opened its borders to non-US citizens for the first time since March 2020. What follows are the latest insights from Nick Churton of RPL’s London office, who celebrates the lifting of these restrictions and describes how these new freedoms may impact the international property market.
After months and months of pandemic lockout, on 8th November 2021 the USA slid back the bolt on their vast door and opened it to European travelers once again.
Family members, New York shoppers, business people, sun-seekers, sightseers and skiers can, once again, hop across the Atlantic. But they are not the only people released to travel. Homebuyers have also slipped the leash.
The global pandemic has prompted significant changes in the real estate world. Once committed city dwellers have surged to the countryside in pursuit of space and health. Also, the number of people choosing to work from home has been accelerated by at least a decade, changing commuting habits and lifestyles for millions for ever.
During the national lockdowns many people made new life choices, such as deciding to move to the coast, create gardens, grow vegetables or to keep livestock. These opportunities were eagerly seized upon and realized as soon as domestic travel bans were relaxed. What we saw, therefore, was an unexpected explosion in home sales.
Now that the pandemic is, we hope, more under control in Europe and America, two-way travel between these continents is possible again. All those international buyers seeking a lifestyle change can now stop screen-shopping and start the job of house hunting for real.
The USA has long been a magnet for homebuyers from Europe, and especially from the UK where the US maintains a long-held third place in popularity after Spain and France. But this could change as Brexit has made retirement or holiday home ownership in EU countries much more complicated for UK citizens. The US with its sun, snow, fun, common language and wide variety of cultures could well now leapfrog its two main competitors to become the number one destination for UK home buyers.
In 1775, a silversmith called Paul Revere warned Bostonians that the British were coming. Now more Brits will be on their way. But this time, they will come in peace. They will also come in delight and approval of what the Patriots have done with the place over the past 250 years.
