London Property – the new prime areas
Last month’s blog referred to the recent and expected mid-term strengthening of the pound, along with the current belief that the UK is destined for a soft Brexit. The UK, and more specifically London, remains, a good bet for investors. It has recently been stated in The Telegraph that “High profile new developments are redefining once overlooked areas”, emphasising London’s recent growth, ultimately highlighting its appeal to those wishing to settle in the UK from abroad.
Research from Hamptons international reveals that 30% of homes across London were sold to international buyers last year. Overseas investors bought up more than half of all residential properties for sale in London’s most exclusive postcodes in the last half of 2017. This is due to international investors always seeing the UK, specifically the UK property market as an attractive place to invest due to its economy being seen as a safe haven in comparison to those other around the world. And now with London’s housing market and economic position continuing to grow, it continues to be a major global hub.
Because of this continued growth, the traditional ‘prime’ areas have now changed. With London’s population rising by 100,000 per year, the need for new developments in the housing sector have increased, and so new, dynamic areas such as Canary Wharf and south-east London have gone under construction and mounted in popularity amongst London’s wealthiest. Before, the prime property areas in London were considered to be Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, due to their central locations. However, with the constant growth of the city, and the new arrival of Crossrail later this year, the footprint of what might be considered prime has grown and evolved.
With this, the attractions of living in the UK and the current economic position and housing market outweigh brexit, and so overseas investors do well to consider a stable future in the UK, specifically London.