sell London buy Geneva ?

[housen]

hi all

I now live in Geneva Switzerland and have done for 3 years

I really like it here and don't want to go back to the UK and work in London again (banking)

I own a flat in zone 1 London which has almost doubled since 2012 but it has high service charges and is a pain to fund this each year .

that's pretty much all my assets in this 1 flat .

I would like to sell and buy here but have a fear that London would keep going up ? but at the same time my costs would drop a lot here on a 1%ish mortgage here .

other fear is I am forced to go back to the UK for work .

everyone around me is saying hold London as its one way .

what are your thoughts please ?

thank u

[superpippo]

Personally I would try to keep it. Not sure if you are renting it or not, probably you should. You should be able to pay it with the rent money.
You must have a good salary - try to save some money and buy a second place in Geneva.

[chandrew]

I sold a Zone 1 flat when I moved here in 2003. At the time the rental wouldn't have covered the bills (mortgage etc). I suspect it's doubled in price since then, though I did get 2.5 to the pound when I moved it across.

Your bank should be able to give you a research report on the Swiss residential market and probably the currency. I have no idea how property in London will go over the coming years.

It's worth noting that the taxes on Swiss property are to discourage speculation so it's a long-term purchase.

[housen]

thx for the replies

I think im going to bite the bullet and go back to the uk re finance and hold for 5/10 years

if all goes to plan I should do well outta it

Geneva property itself and prices are depressing and so is the gbpchf fx

I will miss it here but needs must

im still youngish so can always find my alpine dream in the future

[Gruber]

Whereabouts in Zone 1 is it? The performance across zone 1 has varied and will vary considerably, especially (in my view) over the next few years.

The mega growth in central London property prices doesn't look set to continue. There's broad agreement on that across the board. And no-one really knows right now what the impact of Brexit will be - and my guess is that the impact will vary from area to area. Added to which, the more onerous tax regime for non-doms will have an effect on demand.

And of course, rental yeilds in central London are pretty poor right now, and that doesn't look likely to change any time soon. Good rental stock seems to be sitting around for a while waiting for tenants right now.

I'm not suggesting for one minute there's going to be a property crash in central London. But I do think there's potential for a slight downward adjustment if/when interest rates rise, Brexit causes an economic slowdown, international demand drops off and so on. And I certainly don't think there's scope for the 5-10% (depending on location) growth p.a. we've seen in recent years in most of the capital... unless you happen to be around Kings Cross or Nine Elms which might buck the trend.

I don't know much at all about the Geneva property market, I'm sorry...

[housen]

Gruber said:

Whereabouts in Zone 1 is it? The performance across zone 1 has varied and will vary considerably, especially (in my view) over the next few years.

The mega growth in central London property prices doesn't look set to continue. There's broad agreement on that across the board. And no-one really knows right now what the impact of Brexit will be - and my guess is that the impact will vary from area to area. Added to which, the more onerous tax regime for non-doms will have an effect on demand.

And of course, rental yeilds in central London are pretty poor right now, and that doesn't look likely to change any time soon. Good rental stock seems to be sitting around for a while waiting for tenants right now.

I'm not suggesting for one minute there's going to be a property crash in central London. But I do think there's potential for a slight downward adjustment if/when interest rates rise, Brexit causes an economic slowdown, international demand drops off and so on. And I certainly don't think there's scope for the 5-10% (depending on location) growth p.a. we've seen in recent years in most of the capital... unless you happen to be around Kings Cross or Nine Elms which might buck the trend.

I don't know much at all about the Geneva property market, I'm sorry...

thx for reply and info sir

the property is on Bermondsey street

I've decided to do my best and keep it and hope it keeps doing well

[superpippo]

Just as a reference, when Hong Kong left UK the property prices crashed, but soon went back to even higher level.
Probably you will see something similar in London.