Just one year ago London property was recording triple-digit sales and now, 12 months later, it’s largely a different story with some recent London property exhibitions held this month struggling to sell even a handful of units between them.
As one agent told PropertyGuru, “What we’re selling at the moment is really lacking the ‘wow’ factor”.
That’s true. The triple-digit-selling Battersea Power Station had the ‘wow’ factor and more. It had been hyped to the hilt and had the backing of the Malaysian government.
Many agents have reported declining interest on the back of last year’s implementation of various rounds of cooling measures, but equal numbers have told PropertyGuru that buyers have simply become more selective with their investments – and are looking further afield that just zones one and two – the previous sole focus of Singaporeans for many years.
Singapore investors are also increasingly savvy. They know the landscape of London property, and they know that phase one of any development is almost always the cheapest. Phase two, in the case of one of this month’s examples, was selling at almost S$200,000 more less than a year after phase one was showcased to potential buyers in the city-state.
Granted, there are benefits for holding on to your cash. You get to see the development and its surroundings take shape, and you get a better feel for what your end investment – whether it’s for rental yields or capital gains – will actually achieve.
Rest assured though that overseas properties with impressive ‘wow’ factors will be back after the Chinese New Year break. Despite a pick-up in local demand almost all U.K. developers still consider Singapore, and the rest of Southeast Asia, as an essential stop on their global marketing journeys.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
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