In the latest twist in the whole “squeezed out” debate, media reports in the United Kingdom have claimed that 80 percent of the units in a series of new Thameside developments have been bought by foreign purchasers.
As is generally the case, the definition of “foreign” isn’t entirely clear, but according to statistics obtained from Knight Frank by the Guardian, buyers from the Far East accounted for a quarter of properties sold in the four as-yet unnamed schemes. Around 20 percent have seemingly gone to buyers from the Middle East.
The newspaper claimed that 40 percent of the units were sold to investors, and has picked up on Knight Frank’s marketing material for a new scheme at Vauxhall Cross, which is quoted as saying that London is “widely regarded as the ‘gold bullion’ of international property markets” and goes on to talk about returns that have been “better than…the FTSE 100 and gold”.
A spokesman for Knight Frank explained that this level of foreign investment only related to “a narrow percentage of the market, and in the total market across London it is a much smaller proportion”.
Last year, Savills went in-depth on the subject in its World in London report. The agency found that 68 percent of prime London private residential property were owned by domestic U.K. buyers – but that 37 percent of Londoners were born overseas.
The story was first published by PrimeResi, the Journal of Prime Property, and is published by PropertyGuru as part of an editorial partnership,
