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London Commercial Property News: London 'second to New York' for future property investment

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:03:07 +0100

Those looking for flats and houses for sale in Maida Vale, London, might be pleased to hear that the capital is seen as a good place to invest in property.

According to Knight Frank and Citi Bank research, the city came second only to New York in the top 20 locations for future property investment, What House reported.

However, US publication Forbes said London property is too expensive.

"New York and London remain the number one spots to invest in global real estate, but honestly, who can afford it?" the magazine asked.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that commercial property in London saw almost £2.2 billion of investment within the first quarter of 2011, despite fears of a slowdown in economic recovery.

The newspaper cited research showing the volume of property deals in the capital increased by 34 per cent year-on-year, while overseas property buyers in London accounted for 53 per cent of property purchases in the City and 55 per cent in the West End.

London Commercial Property News

International Property Investment News: 'Age of bling is over' for London skyscrapers

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:47:00 +0100

New property developments in London are likely to be less ostentatious than those built in recent years as developers look for better investment yields in the London property markets.

This is the view of architect Ken Shuttleworth, designer of the London Gherkin, who told Bloomberg that the age of the iconic skyscraper is coming to an end in the capital.

"The age of bling is over. Money now drives everything, so if you can build something for half the price, you will," he argued.

Steve Watts of construction consultants Davis Langdon agreed and noted that high-rise properties in London tend to cost up to £150 more per square foot than low-rise buildings.

This means a skyscraper boasting 500,000 sq ft of space will require funding of £150 million, which is twice as much as a lower-rise building with the same capacity, Mr Watts pointed out.

A number of iconic London property developments are currently under construction, including The Shard in Southwark and the Cheesegrater and the Walkie Talkie towers in the Square Mile.

International Property Investment News

International Property Investment News: Chinese buyers overtake Russians in prime property purchases

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:34:43 +0100

Individuals from mainland China are increasingly making residential property investments in London, according to new figures.

Statistics released by Frank Knight revealed Chinese buyers have overtaken Russians in the trend to snap up prime properties in the capital, the Financial Times reported.

An average of £6.5 million was spent on high end property sales and rentals by Chinese investors, while buyers from Malaysia and Hong Kong lavished an average of £6.2 million and £5.5 million respectively on their London homes.

Liam Bailey of the international estate group told the newspaper: "Until two years ago, the most affluent buyers in the central London market were Russian - on average they outspent every other nationality by far."

However, this has now changed, with Russian investors spending around £5.4 million on average in the last 12 months.

The uptake in prime London property requests could be down to the weakness of sterling, which helps overseas buyers who are using Hong Kong dollars.

International Property Investment News

Global investors 'look to London property market'

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:11:44 +0000

Investors from around the world are increasingly looking to the London property market for new assets, a new report has concluded.

The latest Global Investment Sentiment Survey from Colliers International, which looks into the habits and attitudes of investors across the world, has revealed that confidence in property within the UK has continued to rise over the past six months.

In particular, office space in London is now top of their list of targets, with a significant proportion of investors confident that rental prices in the City will have bottomed out by the middle of next year before returning to growth.

Commenting on the findings, Colliers chief executive for the EMEA region Chris McLemon suggested that such views could be seen as the ultimate vote of confidence in London property, given that most investors are still being cautious with their money.

"This illustrates a level of confidence and optimism about the market for the upcoming 12 months that we certainly did not see in our last survey," he noted.

This comes soon after the chief executive of Land Securities Francis Salway told City AM that prospects for office property investments in London are continuing to improve.

London commercial property news

London Property News: London 'is most popular city in Europe for property investment'

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:57:50 +0100

Real estate buyers are returning to London property investment as the capital topped a list of the most attractive European cities for investors.

According to the Financial Times, research has shown that purchasers are increasingly turning to the London property market over other UK cities, such as Liverpool, Sheffield and Belfast.

The study by LaSalle found that while the financial crisis resulted in lower growth expectations, the capital's "dynamic and flexible economy has bounced back strongly", with such levels of optimism set to increase as a result of the 2012 Olympic Games and the Crossrail programme.

London outperformed 103 other major European cities, including Paris, Munich and Stockholm, when researchers judged its attractiveness to overseas property investors by its overall level of wealth, hospitality to business activity and a range of economic growth factors.

Meanwhile, property expert David Lawrenson has suggested that private landlords in London could be set to face a rise in tenant demand as changes to local housing allowance are felt.