Click here or picture for full original Story, New York Times.
LONDON — What could be more English than Mayfair? Elegant Georgian townhouses and solid Edwardian mansions line the streets of this sophisticated neighborhood, which has been a haven for the rich since the Great Plague and then the fire of 1666 drove the capital’s aristocracy out of the City of London and into the area to the west.
Today, many residents come from farther afield — including Asia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Greece and Italy — drawn by glamorous clubs like Harry’s Bar and Annabel’s, Michelin-starred restaurants like Le Gavroche and duplexes that cost as much as £25,000, or $38,000, a week to rent. And thanks to a change rooted in the dark days of World War II, its real estate market is thriving with an increase in the number of properties coming on the market.
“Scores of Mayfair’s mansions were requisitioned and turned into offices” during the blitz, said Peter Wetherell, managing director of the Wetherell real estate agency in Mayfair. Since 1990 those temporary use permits have been expiring and, although the process has been slow, the buildings have been reverting to residential use.
Initially landlords like Grosvenor Estates, the biggest in Mayfair and owned by the Duke of Westminster, were reluctant to end commercial usage as rents could be raised periodically while residential property, in contrast, could produce just a single sale. But the move to residential was given a push by the Leasehold, Reform and Urban Development Act of 1993, which gave leaseholders the right to buy their property.
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House prices along the newly opened East London line are soaring amid booming demand for homes in previously isolated parts of the capital.
Exclusive research for the Evening Standard today showed the value of properties in areas such as Haggerston, Shadwell, Wapping and New Cross have risen sharply over the past two years.
Estate agents along the route from Dalston in the north to Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south have seen a flood of enquiries from workers looking for quick transport links into central London.
The overground route takes in the East End, Docklands and the suburbs of Brockley, Forest Hill and South Norwood, and about 220,000 people work within a 15-minute walk of an East London line station. Vast swathes of east London are also benefiting from regeneration before the London Olympics in 2012.
Tarik Shurdom, who runs estate agent Winkworth in Shoreditch, said: “We have had quite a few people coming in and specifically saying they want to find somewhere to buy on the East London line. It is proving very popular and has really complemented the development of the area. This has been going on for about two years.”
The line opened in May after two years of construction.
Directories and search group 192.com found that property values are higher around most East London line stations than they were two years ago.
The biggest rises came around the stations at New Cross and New Cross Gate in SE14 where the average price of a house is now more than 22 per cent higher than it was in 2008.
In Shadwell and Wapping in E1 prices are up more than 13 per cent, and in Haggerston and Shoreditch they have risen by more than 12 per cent.
But with the economy only stuttering out of recession, unemployment still high, and mortgages hard to come by, prices have not risen everywhere.
Read full story form the BBC click this link..
World record priced £140m London apartment, by Candy & Candy
The £140m flat: World-record price earns mystery buyer room service from a TV chef, a panic room and SAS-trained bodyguards
It boasts a penthouse view over Central London, a private wine-tasting facility and an underground passage to a Heston Blumenthal restaurant.
Throw in security measures a James Bond villain would be proud of and a ‘panic room’ in case things go wrong, and you would expect to pay a high price.
But even estate agents could not contain their amazement yesterday as a London property was on the verge of being sold for £140million – making it the most expensive flat in the world.
Costing more than £6,000 per square foot, the two-floor apartment in the One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge block has floor-to-ceiling windows, its own car park and access to a host of spas and squash courts.
There is also a tunnel to the neighbouring Mandarin Oriental Hotel – where TV chef Blumenthal will soon open his first London restaurant – to allow residents access to 24-hour room service, while the performance car-maker McLaren is opening a showroom on the ground floor.
And should the residents feel the need to venture outside, the local ‘corner shops’ include Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Naturally enough the residence has security features including bullet-proof windows, SAS-trained security guards, an air purifier to frustrate poison gas attacks and a ‘panic room’ where the owners can retreat in safety should they be targeted by kidnappers or robbers.
The previous most expensive flat was valued at £115million in a rival Central London development at St James’s Square in 2008.
Trevor Abrahamson of estate agent Glentree Estates said of the latest sale: ‘This is a huge price. In the last six months we have sold more trophy properties than we have in the last two years.
‘One minute there was an over-supply and then there was a shortage. Prices are high.’
While the identity of the new owner is shrouded in secrecy, the usual super-rich suspects of Russian oligarchs and Arab billionaires are in the frame.
Source.. Daily Mail, click to read full story with some great pictures.
Wealthy Americans are helping to buoy London prime property prices by snapping up properties in Battersea, the affluent South London suburb, after the US embassy was this year given the green light to relocate to the area.
After 50 years in a Mayfair mansion, the US embassy is moving to a futuristic cube in Battersea. The move has prompted a 60% rise in American buyers in the area on last year, according to prime London property agent Douglas & Gordon.
Knight Frank said that as a result, prices would rise substantially in the area, where several luxury developments are planned. Matt Smith, head of Knight Frank’s Riverside office, said: “I expect prices will continue to rise in Battersea and Nine Elms as a result of the new US Embassy, St George Wharf especially. There is a 50 floor residential tower going up and of course eventual the Power Station redevelopment next door to embassy. There is also the potential of a new tube station in the area.”
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Tayyab’s, London Indian restaurant of the year winner, even though it’s a Pakistani restaurant…
A BYO (bring your own booze) restaurant started by Mohammad Tayyab over 30 years ago, this family run restaurant in historic Whitechapel has grown in size and reputation over the years.
Originally a daytime café for locals and those in the known, the restaurant finally opened an evening restaurant n an adjoining Victorian pub. Recently refurbished the restaurant is decorated in vibrant colours and subtle lighting, balancing the fiery menu and bustling atmosphere.
Booking is essential most evenings, it’s that good…a good tip is to have loads of starters as they are all cooked fresh and are out of this world…
Tayyabs, 83-89, Fieldgate St. London E1 1JU Google Map
Read the reviews in TimeOut and The Independent..
….Make love to the agent..not literally of course…!!
If you are not using a professional search agent then you are probably going to be 100% reliant on estate agents, making a good impression makes a big difference, whilst estate agents may not have a very good reputation in the eyes of the press if they are your only source of property you will need to keep them very happy, let them know compared to all the other buyers they should be showing you the best properties first, not an easy trick, agents are very busy people, so not wasting their time will get you maximum brownie points.
Other things agents will appreciate are, having everything in place before you start viewing, not being a browser, knowing what your absolute must haves and what you are more prepared to compromise on, but that’s not to say you let agents bully you into viewings ‘almost’ properties, you know it’s ‘almost’ 3 double bedrooms…but let your agents know you are serious by being on time for viewings, calling if you are running late etc will make them love you all the more, keep not turning up or being late all the time means you will not be top of the list when the best properties come on the market…
Look out for more buying tips from www.BuyersAgentLondon.com
Click picture or here to read full story by Kevin Brass, editor of the International Property Journal
Asian investors are purchasing central London property in unprecedented numbers and now account for 20 percent of all new build sales, a new report concludes.
In the last year, buyers from Asia represented 49 percent of the purchased as investments, compared to only 36 percent from the U.K., according to the new international report from property company Knight Frank.
“While the market has returned to life, after it pretty much shut-down in 2008, current international investment demand is almost totally concentrated on London and is primarily coming from Asia,” said Knight Frank residential research director Liam Bailey.
Of the 7,595 new build properties completed in the 12 months ending in March, 41 percent were bought by investors, Knight Frank estimates. (That compares to 72 percent sold to investors in 2007, by the way.)
Of the investor buyers last year, 49 percent were Asian, with Chinese and Hong Kong investors represented the largest group, 11 percent, followed by 10 percent from Singapore. Despite tales of free-spending sheiks and Russian oligarchs, only 3.5 percent of the buyers last year were from the Middle East; 3.1 percent were from Russia continued…
Click piture or here to read original article on the Real Estate Channel
While many markets continue to plod along, bouncing and churning in the bubbles of a partial recovery, primary central London prices are surging again, conjuring images of the boom years.
After a 1.4 percent bump in May – the 14th consecutive monthly increase – prime London prices are up 23 percent since last March, Knight Frank report. That’s only 6.4 percent below the market’s peak, achieved in March 2008.
Overseas buyers are helping lead the surge, the property company says. While U.K. residents have been hesitant to commit, foreign buyers, especially Russians, are taking advantage of the weak pound. The number of Russian applicants grew by 112 percent in the last two months.
“Russian buyers have become very noticeable over the past two months and have bucked the trend set by domestic buyers who became less committed in the run up to the election,” said Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research. “Russians and most other nationalities buying in London are fairly unaffected by political upheaval and have remained by far the most confident and proactive buyers in the market.”
Elena Norton, head of Knight Frank’s Russia desk, says there has been a “clear shift in demand” towards “single family house refurbishments” and larger developments where Russians can be investors or co-developers. “Increasingly they are looking to add value over the longer term, which proves that Russian buyers consider London property a safe and attractive investment,” Norton said.
The Real Estate Channel June 2010
House price inflation hits 10.5%, says the Nationwid
Read the full article on the BBC web site.
Prices are up but sales are still very subdued
The annual rate of UK house price inflation has hit double figures for the first time since June 2007, according to the Nationwide.
The building society said that house prices in the UK had risen by 10.5% in the year to the end of April.
Prices rose by 1% in April to push the cost of the average home to £167,802.
However, the Nationwide predicted that the past year’s surge in prices would tail off later this year, with sellers starting to outnumber buyers. cont….
By Tanya Powley. click picture to read full article from the Financial Times
March was the strongest month for London prime property sales since the peak of the housing market in 2007, driven by overseas buyers and a revival in City profits, according to estate agents.
Knight Frank reported a monthly increase of 105 per cent in March, with sales of prime property – those costing more than £2m – up 83 per cent for the year.
Hamptons International reported a 54 per cent monthly growth in London sales of prime property last month, while across London and the south of England they rose by 30 per cent.
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