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.
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
A trial run of the north concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s new Terminal 3 is to commence today, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The eight additional boarding gates would allow for more aircraft parking spaces that are expected to boost the airport’s capacity by 5.8 million passengers annually, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Kuo-shian (林國顯) said. The concourse, designed by a team led by British architect Richard Rogers, provides a refreshing space, Lin said, adding that travelers would enjoy the tall and transparent design that allows sunshine to stream into the concourse through glass curtain walls. The
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
Taiwanese prosecutors charged Tokyo Electron Ltd for failing to prevent staff from allegedly stealing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) trade secrets, escalating a dispute involving two Asian linchpins of a chip industry increasingly vital to national and economic security. Prosecutors indicted the Japanese company on four counts of contravening the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) and the National Security Act (國家安全法), they said in a statement yesterday. They’re asking a local court to rule in favor of their request for Tokyo Electron pay a fine of up to NT$120 million (US$3.8 million) for failing in its duty to prevent the alleged
RSS