A quick note about the current real estate investing environment in that area

People:
Population:60,609,153 (July 2006 est.)
Ethnic Groups:white (of which English 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%, Northern Irish 2.9%) 92.1%, black 2%, Indian 1.8%, Pakistani 1.3%, mixed 1.2%, other 1.6% (2001 census)
Religions:Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)
Languages:English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)
Literacy:definition: age 15 and over has completed five or more years of schooling total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% (2003 est.)

Government:
Government type:constitutional monarchy

Economy:
Economy Overview:The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. GDP growth slipped in 2001-03 as the global downturn, the high value of the pound, and the bursting of the "new economy" bubble hurt manufacturing and exports. Output recovered in 2004, to 3.2% growth, but fell in 2005, to 1.7%. Despite slower growth, the economy is one of the strongest in Europe; inflation, interest rates, and unemployment remain low. The relatively good economic performance has complicated the BLAIR government's efforts to make a case for Britain to join the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Critics point out that the economy is doing well outside of EMU, and public opinion polls show a majority of Britons are opposed to the euro. Meantime, the government has been speeding up the improvement of education, transport, and health services, at a cost in higher taxes and a widening public deficit.
GDP (PPP):$1.83 trillion (2005 est.)
GDP (Official Exchange rate):$2.228 trillion (2005 est.)
GDP (Real Growth Rate):1.8% (2005 est.)
GDP Per capita:$30,300 (2005 est.)
GDP Composition by sector:agriculture: 0.5% industry: 23.7% services: 75.8% (2005 est.)
Unemployment Rate:4.7% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:17% (2002 est.)
Budget: (revenue and expenditures):revenues: $881.4 billion expenditures: $951 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)
Public debt:43.1% of GDP (2005 est.)
Industrial production growth rate:-1.9% (2005 est.)
Exchange rates:1.9% (2005 est.)

Source : C I A Fact Files