Central London has always been an attractive destination for wealthy overseas property investors with buyers mainly coming from Russia and the Middle East. According to independent global property consultants Knight Frank all has now changed with a new trend of buyers coming from Asia
New Knight Frank research shows just under 60% of new-build property sold in central London in the last six months (Nov 10-Apr 11) went to Asian buyers, driven by the favourable exchange rate and London’s status as the top destination for international property purchases, with strong capital growth potential and stable, long-term investment appeal. Hong Kong buyers were the largest group (24%), followed by Singaporeans (12%) and mainland Chinese (10%), and then other countries in the region.
Neil Batty, Head of Knight Frank IPM, comments, “Asia is the fastest-growing region for cross-border sales of London property; having established this business with significant success in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, we are now rapidly expanding into mainland China.
Knight Frank’s International Project Marketing team, which sells UK residential developments to the Asian markets, reports that ã120 million of its London property was snapped up by Asian buyers in the last two months alone, with particular success in the ã400,000-ã1,000,000 price bracket. Most recently, the King’s Cross mixed-use development by King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership was launched in Hong Kong and Singapore at the start of April and became one of the most successful overseas exhibitions ever.
