International home buyers boost prices for luxury property in central London
International buyers are taking a rapidly growing share of the market for central London homes.
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The proportion of sales to overseas buyers rose from 25 per cent in 2004 to almost 40 per cent in 2005, driven by rising sales to Asian and European buyers, according to new data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Property analysts feared the bombings last July by Islamic terrorists could have an impact on the image of city, but the market seems to be picking up.
James Thomas, head of residential at Jones Lang LaSalle, the agents representing 199 Knightsbridge, one of the most expensive developments in the capital, predicts that central London will outperform the rest of the UK this year.
"The prime central London markets are very much seen as a safe investment haven for the international purchasers," says Mr Thomas. "And the performance of the financial markets had significantly increased the wealth of the wealthy and this again is being pushed into the prime [property] markets."
The typical buyers of the best homes in the city have been from the Middle East or Russia, on the back of high energy prices. But they will soon be joined by more Indian and Chinese, according to forecasts by agents Knight Frank.
The most expensive house in London was bought by Lakshmi Mittal, the wealthy Indian, who paid ￡60m ($105m, �87m) for a place in Kensington Palace Gardens.
Kerri Sibson, sales director for 199 Knightsbridge, said buyers had come from countries as diverse as France, Germany, the US, Thailand, Australia and South Africa.
The central London housing market is largely cocooned from the rest of the UK because of a hostof local factors such as bonuses in the City of London. Many of the most upmarket areas, such as Kensington, Mayfair and Chelsea, have endured an indifferent market in recent years, with prices falling in 2003 and rising only slightly since.
These upmarket areas experienced big price rises in the late 1990s, as the first parts of Britain to emerge from the Thatcher recession.
For the rest of the country, the boom came much later, and petered out only last year.
Many property experts say the time has come for central London prices to take off again. Unlike towns and cities elsewhere in the UK, the market is not so dependent on interest rates or personal debt levels, given the wealth of many buyers.
"We expect house prices in London to show moderate increases over the next few years despite continued concerns over the high level of prices compared to incomes," says Milan Khatri, chief economist at RICS.
The new confidence at the top end of the market is reinforced by ambitious plans for Bowater House, London's most extravagant block of flats, which gained planning permission last week.
A consortium of investors, advised by Candy & Candy, the designers, will build 86 apartments costing up to ￡20m each on a Knightsbridge site overlooking Hyde Park.
Nick and Christian Candy, two brothers in their early 30s, have made a name for themselves as the development managers of luxury flats, aircraft and yachts for international billionaires.
The flats at Bowater House, designed by Lord Rogers of Riverside, will be decorated ostentatiously with expensive marble, crystal and exotic woods. "The finish is second to none," says Nick Candy.
They will also have security features such as panic rooms, bullet-proof CCTV cameras and direct lift access from the underground car park to each apartment.
Until recently there was only a handful of flats above the ￡10m mark in the capital, but this has changed with a spate of new developments, many bigger than traditional London houses at up to 10,000 sq ft each.
Mr Candy insists that there are plenty of people willing to spend ￡20m on a single apartment.
The Candy brothers have carried out a handful of projects, one of which - 21 Manresa Road in Chelsea - now boasts the world's most expensive flat, at ￡27m.
Elsewhere, the two most expensive flats at 199 Knightsbridge, a development of 200 apartments by Hong Kong developer Sammy Lee, have sold for ￡20m.
199 Knightsbridge is operated by the Hyatt hotel chain, while Bowater House will be run by the Mandarin Oriental hotel chain.
Yolande Barnes, research director at Savills, the estate agent, said the group's forecasts for the prime central London market of a 5 per cent price rise this year could prove conservative.
Properties over ￡6m were likely to jump by 10 per cent in the first quarter, she said. "The market is looking buoyant, particularly at the extremely high end, with high buyer activity and shortage of stock coming on to the market, for now at least."
外国人炒热伦敦豪宅
国际购房者在伦敦中心区住宅市场上所占的份额正在迅速增长。
皇家特许测量师学会(RICS)公布的最新数据显示，由于亚洲和欧洲购房者的购买量不断增加，销售给海外购房者的房产比例已经从2004年的25%提高至 2005年的近40%，
地产分析人士原本担心，伊斯兰恐怖分子去年7月份制造的爆炸事件可能会有损伦敦的城市形象，但事实表明，伦敦的房地产市场似乎在加速发展。
仲量联行(Jones Lang LaSalle)住宅物业负责人詹姆斯?托马斯(James Thomas)预计，今年伦敦中心区住宅市场的表现将胜过英国其它地区。仲量联行是 “骑士桥199号(199 Knightsbridge)”项目的代理商，这是英国首都最昂贵的房地产项目之一。
随着能源价格飙升，购买伦敦最豪华住宅的顾客通常来自中东或俄罗斯。不过，据国际房地产咨询公司莱坊(Knight Frank)预测，越来越多的印度人和中国人将加入这一行列。
伦敦最昂贵住宅的买主是印度富翁拉克希米?米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)。他耗资6000万英镑（合 1.05亿美元）购得位于肯辛顿宫花园 (Kensington Palace Gardens)的一处房产。
“骑士桥199号”销售主管克里?西布森(Kerri Sibson)表示，购房者来自不同国家，包括法国、德国、美国、泰国、澳大利亚和南非等。
伦敦中心区住宅市场较英国其它地区有很大差异，原因在于一系列当地因素，例伦敦金融城人士奖金提高了他们的住房购买力。
很多地产专家表示，伦敦中心区房地产价格再度上升的时机已到。与英国其它地区的城市或乡镇不同，伦敦中心区房地产市场对利率及个人债务水平的依赖程度不高，因为购买此地房产的人大都很富有。
一家财团正在筹建伦敦最奢华的公寓区Bowater House，并于上周获得规划许可。其雄心勃勃的计划令市场人士对伦敦房地产高端市场的信心进一步增长。这家财团将在可俯瞰海德公园的骑士桥某地段修建86栋公寓，每栋造价2000万英镑。房地产设计公司Candy & Candy担任这家财团的顾问。
