Foreign investors bought 65-70% of the new builds in prime London

Foreign investors bought 65-70% of the new build homes in prime London over the past two years, according to the latest research by estate agent Chesterton Humberts.

London’s established safe haven status, combined with its legal transparency and the good long term performance of its property market, means that it features on many international buyers’ wish lists. Chesterton Humberts has noticed that besides Chinese, Russian and Middle Eastern – Nigerians, French and Greeks are also becoming increasingly active.

Price growth has been particularly strong over the past few years with Nationwide reporting that average new build capital values have risen by 47.7% since 2009, while the average premium for luxury new build property in London can be anything from 10-15% and in some cases considerably higher.

Residential development prices in London rose by 56.3% between q1 2009 and q2 2013.

Chesterton Humberts’ Head of International Residential Developments, Samuel Warren, highlighted that there was £2.2bn of investment in luxury new build homes last year and expects this figure will be exceeded this year:

“With demand for prime new build properties set to remain robust and new supply struggling to keep up, we expect investment volumes will be higher this year than last. The relative weakness of sterling means that many overseas buyers can achieve effective discounts on purchase price whilst acquiring an asset that will almost certainly appreciate considerably over time and which they will have little difficulty in selling when the time comes.”

Source: Chesterton Humberts