It is wise to diversify your assets over different asset classes, for example real estate, stocks, gold, possibly cryptocurrencies. Real estate is a very good long-term investment compared to the other asset classes.
The climate for investing in Dutch real estate is becoming increasingly unfavorable:
-pressure on the return through regulation of mid-market rent & high transfer tax
-less available real estate due to purchase protection in many regions
-higher tax burden due to the abolition of the empty value ratio (leegwaarderatio) and restructuring of box 3 tax
Now that Dutch real estate is becoming increasingly unattractive, real estate in the UK is an interesting and profitable alternative.
What makes the UK real estate market attractive?
The UK has great demand for rental properties, so investing in property for the monthly rental cashflow is a sound and stable investment. When leveraged with a mortgage, return on cash employed can be optimized. The UK population grows and shortage of both owner-occupied and rent housing increases. This in turn increases house prices and rental prices. Over the years, the added benefit of property investing is capital appreciation. The regions with highest capital growth are Wales, North-East and North-West with >23% capital growth between 2022 and 2026 (https://pdf.savills.com/documents/UK-Mainstream-House-Price-Forecasts.pdf). Furthermore, UK legislation is favorable towards landlords with many services readily available. Finally, with the right network properties can be bought below market value.
Ciconia group has extensive experience in various real estate strategies: buy-to-let, flips, conversions, developments. You can invest with us starting from 6% return on investment depending on the type of project you invest in.
Our real estate journey started in 2017 when Melanie followed a real estate training on investing in Dutch real estate. What made real estate so attractive? On the one hand, exploring something completely different from the medical world. On the other hand, the idea of passive income as an additional income stream and security, perhaps with the result of not having to work until we retire? We are huge action takers, so a few months later we became the proud owners of our first rental home in Arnhem, followed shortly by a few more. During this period we were triggered by a Facebook ad about an event in Amsterdam about investing in the UK. Coincidence you would think? Or does coincidence not exist? For the first few days of the event, we hadn't imagined buying property in the UK. Two busy jobs, three children and the fourth on the way… On day 3 we decided to take the plunge. “We have more to lose if we don't do it than we lose if we do,” was our thought. We experienced that British real estate has much more potential than Dutch real estate. We immediately set up our first two companies: Ciconia Properties Ltd and Ciconia Trading Ltd. Once again within a few weeks we were the proud owners of 2 properties in the UK, 1 buy-to-let and 1 flip. By early 2021, our UK portfolio had grown to such an extent that Job decided to quit his job as a clinical physicist and focus entirely on real estate in the UK. We have built a network of trusted partners in the UK. These partners allow us to run different projects in parallel, operate in different regions, grow our business and explore new business models. From a few small houses or apartments we went to condominiums, residential development projects, operation of a buy-to-let portfolio and short term rentals. Almost all of our projects require major renovation and/or refurbishment. This allows us to create high-quality homes that are ready for the future while adding significant value.
