International Investment in London property International investors channeled £2.2 Billion into London property in 2012, up from £1.8 Billion in 2011. Singapore investors accounted for 22% of the purchase of newly built London property. Singapore investors buy London property with their children’s education in mind, planning to use at least one property for their children to live while they attend a London university. London will become an offshore trading center for the Yuan after Hong Kong and Singapore. This would be significant because London is one of the major foreign exchange trading centers and would pave the way for global investors craving currency diversification and more exposure to China to trade Yuan. Singapore investors will continue with growing interest in London property especially in prime central London with its popular educational institutions in the vicinity. Another factor spurring the interest of these Singapore investors is the Sing dollar’s sustained rise against the sterling pound in recent months. The London property is benefiting from Singapore’s efforts to cool its property market as new restrictions and a weak sterling pound attract investors to London. Singapore investors are looking abroad for investments as the local currency rose to a record against the sterling pound, making London property cheaper and as they face government cooling measures at home to rein in property prices that reached an all-time high. London property changed hands at the fastest pace since 2007 in April this year. Better sentiment and a shortage of properties for sales are key factors of supporting the values of London property. The supply of new London property will fail to keep up with the demand over the next 10 years which means that the city’s property market is likely to continue to outperform other parts of the country. An analysis from global property firm, Knight Frank, in its latest report noted London property calling prices and activity, especially in prime central London have bounced back much more quickly from the fall out of the financial crisis with prices in prime central London climbing nearly 60% since the post crisis trough. This performance as well as London as a global hub, has attracted attention from Singapore investors. The Department for Communities and local Government indicates the delivery of housing currently in the planning pipeline is unlikely to keep up with the demand. One of the key factors underpinning any residential market is the relationship between housing demand and housing supply. The London property market, like the rest of UK has been affected by a lack of supply of housing for many years. The financial crisis exacerbated the downturn in house building, with the number of private residential units being completed in the London dropping by nearly 30% between 2009 and 2010. At the same time, the population continues to grow and the number of people living in London has risen by 20% over the last two decades. With all these very attractive factors, more and more oversea investors like Singaporean will look into London property for their investment portfolios.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 04:14:46 +0000
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