Housing charities are warning that Chinese investors are pushing Britons out of the property market, by increasing the competition in a market that’s already suffering from low supply.

According to research carried out by the estate agent Knight Frank, Chinese buyers spent £120 million in London over the past two months alone.

Investors from mainland China and Hong Kong see London property as a bargain, so are flocking to the capital to snap up deals. Luxury apartments in Knightsbridge and Canary Wharf are the most desirable to these investors.

The influx of wealthy Chinese is having a negative impact on the ability of already cash-strapped Britons to purchase homes. Although most of their purchases range from £400,000 to £1 million, housing charities are warning that these prices paid by the Chinese are having a rippling effect down the housing ladder, pushing up lower end property prices also. According to the Daily Mail, ‘Brits at the bottom end are being squeezed out of the market entirely.’

Siqi Ahang, a consultant of Celestial Globe, a firm which specialises in sourcing Chinese investors for London developments, told the Daily Mail: “In mainland China, the authorities have restricted property speculators to dampen the market, and in Hong Kong prices have risen by 70 per cent in under two years. With sterling weak and interest rates low, London now offers much better value than Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

“For a normal £400,000 investment you can buy a freehold house in London. But in Beijing you can’t even get a central apartment.”

Chinese investors are stampeding the Docklands area in particular, but with such a large number of Londoners already on a waiting list for affordable homes, they are hindering the ability of Britons to get onto the ladder.

The housing association have expressed their concern over the situation, claiming that many Londoners will have to until they are in their 50s before they can afford a deposit.

Assistant Director of the Housing Association, Paul Rees told the Daily Mail: “If people buy properties at astronomical prices at the top end of the market, that has a ripple effect all the way down the housing ladder with people at the bottom end squeezed out of the market entirely.

“In effect we simply don’t have enough homes to go around. As a result of that, 800,000 people are on a waiting list for an affordable home and the average London house prices is thirteen times the average London salary.”