1. What are your research aim(s), questions and/or objectives?
The principle research aim leading this piece of research is “A discussion of the motivations behind foreign investment in the London property market”. In addition, a number of sub questions and themes will also be addressed. These will include:
• Identifying different types of financial investment in London and who the investors are.
• Recognising trends of London property prices throughout recent history.
• Housing bubbles, what exactly they are, and their effects.
• Perception of foreign investment by locals and the British media.
• Comparison of London with an equivalent area of investment e.g. Oxford/Cambridge.
• The effect of the current economic shock in the economies …show more content…
What is your research design and methodology? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the methods and/or techniques that you have used for your research so far?
For my thesis, I have employed specific methodologies that complement the research aims/questions outlined above. This has been achieved so far through using a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Being primarily an economic geography thesis, the methodologies will be slightly weighted in favour of statistics, graphs and numerical analysis. However, I feel it is important to compensate for the weaknesses of purely numerical data through the use of more humanistic qualitative methods such as interviews. Using a combination of both will allow the research to be more rounded in its approach.
Quantitative methods will make up the majority of analysis in this thesis due to the nature of the research question. As such, reviewing secondary data sources containing graphs and tables will help to inform many of the numerical based questions, such as historical property prices in …show more content…
So far, I have made contact with several interviewees and will be finalising question composition and conducting the interviews in the upcoming weeks. I plan to conduct these interviews with leading London estate agents who deal with foreign investors, both private and commercial. This will hopefully help me identify who is investing in London property and, potentially, the motivations behind their property purchases.
3. How does your study fit within existing geographical literature? Which theories and conceptual approaches are you using to frame your research?
Looking at existing literature, it quickly became evident that there was a distinct lack of contemporary scholarly writing surrounding the direct issue of foreign investment in the London property market. However, there are many news articles and publications being released daily, resulting in certain statistics and figures can become outdated very quickly. This is something I need to keep in mind when producing an up to date piece of empirical research.
A substantive proportion of the academic literature that I have already read, concerns mainly the forms of investment in London and why they have occurred, e.g. following historical colonial links etc. Thus, I hope to provide a different insight through looking at individuals and corporations and their direct
The principle research aim leading this piece of research is “A discussion of the motivations behind foreign investment in the London property market”. In addition, a number of sub questions and themes will also be addressed. These will include:
• Identifying different types of financial investment in London and who the investors are.
• Recognising trends of London property prices throughout recent history.
• Housing bubbles, what exactly they are, and their effects.
• Perception of foreign investment by locals and the British media.
• Comparison of London with an equivalent area of investment e.g. Oxford/Cambridge.
• The effect of the current economic shock in the economies …show more content…
What is your research design and methodology? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the methods and/or techniques that you have used for your research so far?
For my thesis, I have employed specific methodologies that complement the research aims/questions outlined above. This has been achieved so far through using a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Being primarily an economic geography thesis, the methodologies will be slightly weighted in favour of statistics, graphs and numerical analysis. However, I feel it is important to compensate for the weaknesses of purely numerical data through the use of more humanistic qualitative methods such as interviews. Using a combination of both will allow the research to be more rounded in its approach.
Quantitative methods will make up the majority of analysis in this thesis due to the nature of the research question. As such, reviewing secondary data sources containing graphs and tables will help to inform many of the numerical based questions, such as historical property prices in …show more content…
So far, I have made contact with several interviewees and will be finalising question composition and conducting the interviews in the upcoming weeks. I plan to conduct these interviews with leading London estate agents who deal with foreign investors, both private and commercial. This will hopefully help me identify who is investing in London property and, potentially, the motivations behind their property purchases.
3. How does your study fit within existing geographical literature? Which theories and conceptual approaches are you using to frame your research?
Looking at existing literature, it quickly became evident that there was a distinct lack of contemporary scholarly writing surrounding the direct issue of foreign investment in the London property market. However, there are many news articles and publications being released daily, resulting in certain statistics and figures can become outdated very quickly. This is something I need to keep in mind when producing an up to date piece of empirical research.
A substantive proportion of the academic literature that I have already read, concerns mainly the forms of investment in London and why they have occurred, e.g. following historical colonial links etc. Thus, I hope to provide a different insight through looking at individuals and corporations and their direct