Foreign buyers take half of £1m London homes
NEARLY half of prime central London homes sold for more than £1m in the year to June went to foreign buyers, according to research published by Knight Frank.
However only 28 per cent of the buyers lived outside the UK, as opposed to foreign residents in the country. These buyers were mainly investors, looking to earn an income return by letting their properties.
The property consultancy’s latest report on international activity in London said foreign buyers – including those that were not resident in the country – came mainly from Europe, the Middle East and Russia.
Where the properties were newly built, 69 per cent of sales in prime central London over the past two years have been to foreign buyers by nationality, but only 49 per cent were foreign by residence.
Only 20 per cent of purchases in the remaining inner London area were to non-UK residents, showing that international demand for newly built property is limited to London’s prime areas and golden postcodes such as Mayfair, Kensington & Chelsea and Knightsbridge.
“Our research points to the fact that the majority of demand for new-build property in London from overseas remains focussed on the relatively small and concentrated market made up of the central London postcodes,” said Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of international research.
Ninety-three per cent of buyers of all newly-built properties including outer London boroughs were British residents.
Bailey added: “While some developers have noted rising interest from overseas buyers in areas outside central London, these appear to be localised examples.”