Luxury-home prices in London climbed at a record monthly pace last month as buyers competed for a smaller number of properties, real estate broker Knight Frank LLC said.
The average price of the UK capital's most expensive houses and apartments rose by an average of 3.9 percent last month from June, according to data compiled by London-based Knight Frank. The annual increase was more than 36 percent, the highest since former prime minister Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.
"Add into the mix rising domestic wealth and rising foreign wealth coming into the country, we can see why prices have risen strongly," Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank, the UK's largest closely held real estate brokerage, said in the statement.
The company forecast a gain of 25 percent for all of this year.
Investment bankers and hedge-fund managers with bonuses to spend are vying with rich individuals from Asia, the Middle East and Russia for a shrinking supply of prime real estate in central London. The number of homes for sale in the city costing at least ?2.5 million (US$5 million) has dropped by 23 percent since 2005, according to Knight Frank.
Britain is home to about 68 billionaires, according to the Sunday Times 2007 Rich List. Many are investors from China, India and Russia who have bought homes in London to take advantage of the city's security, schools, stores, theaters and restaurants.
About 61 percent of all properties in central London that fetch more than ?4 million are acquired by foreigners, Knight Frank estimates.
These buyers "are much more likely to hold onto their property for a longer period as an investment, even if they return to their home country," Bailey said.
Brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who own Mumbai-based Hinduja Group with a sibling, last year paid ?58 million for a 60-room home on The Mall, the avenue which runs from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, the Sunday Times reported.
Other foreign residents or home-owners include Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen and Vladimir Kim, chairman of Kazakhstan's biggest copper producer, the Sunday Times reported. Overseas buyers are also attracted by tax rules that allow wealthy non-British individuals to live in the UK, while paying their tax overseas.
The Bank of England has raised borrowing costs five times in the past year to keep a lid on inflation. The benchmark interest rate may need to climb to 6 percent next month from the current 5.75 percent, policy makers indicated last week, a move that would further increase mortgage costs for homebuyers.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
RSS