A Hong Kong Billionaire has spent £33 million on a London property confirming that the new international property rich are coming from China. The purchase will have London estate agents seeking new ways in attracting the Chinese to their property portfolios.
Central London has always attracted wealthy overseas buyers who are responsible for inflated house prices and a market that seems immune to national housing market trends. Russian oligarchs, Indians and Arab entrepreneurs all have contributed to the upward trend of property in London.
The latest purchase n was made by Chinese Billionaire Joseph Lau, who has a £2.5 billion fortune. He bought a six-floor mansion in Eaton Square, Belgravia. The white stucco house has its own cinema, a swimming pool, and gym and servant quarters.
Lau, 57, made his money in the 1990s as one of Hong Kong’s most controversial corporate raiders. His son, Lau Ming-wai, studied at the London School of Economics and worked for Goldman Sachs.
Lau, who is the chairman of Chinese Estates Holdings, a property development company, may be at the head of a line of other Chinese super-rich buying in London’s most exclusive areas. Although his mansion was bought by an offshore company, it is intended for his personal use.
According to a world wealth report published by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini last year, the number of dollar millionaires in China outstripped the number in the UK for the first time in 2008. Only the US, Germany and Japan now have more millionaires.
Meanwhile in China Premier Wen Jiabao, at the opening of the National People’s Congress on March 5, pledged to crack down on speculation in the real estate market after property prices rose at the fastest pace in 21 months in January. The Chinese government is determined to keep control of housing prices, Jiang Weixin, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction, said at a briefing in Beijing today.
