The proportion of international buyers of Prime Central London property dropped to 56 percent in the third quarter of 2011 – down from 73 percent during the previous three-month period.
Against a backdrop of strong international demand during the first half of 2011, Hamptons International’s Buyer Profile Index, tracking the nationality of Prime Central London property purchasers, highlights that international buyers accounted for 56 percent of all purchases with the nationality mix being led by Europeans (20 percent), followed by Middle Easterners (15 percent), Far Easterners (10 percent), Russians and Chinese (5 percent respectively).
The Far Eastern buyers were mostly from Hong Kong and Singapore.
Adam Challis, Head of Research at Hamptons International, said: "While there are seasonality fluctuations with international demand for Prime Central London property – accounting for the drop in Chinese buyers over the summer period, for example – the nationality mix compared with Q2 this year reflects a modest receding of international demand overall. This is in part due to the unusually high levels of demand from internationals in the first half of 2011, where many buyers were using Prime London property as a defensive investment in a period of extreme economic uncertainty."
"Looking ahead to next year, taxation policies which target High-Net-Worth individuals in the UK are likely to take centre stage in the Prime Central London show. The global nature of many Prime London purchasers means high-earner taxation policies in the UK must be compared with those on a global scale."
Prime Central London property prices look likely to finish up at 13 percent during 2011, according to Hamptons International, having grown by 36 percent since October 2009. These figures are in stark contrast to the largely flat UK national house price growth, which is expected to finish down two percent.
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