While you might be having trouble putting bread on the table in the UK, some of your neighbors are doing just fine. The prices for luxury homes in the capital are actually soaring at the moment, even with the austerity program in place and so many people struggling to make a living and have a roof over their heads.
Housing in London
New figures show that prices for central London properties that are worth more than £1million actually rose by almost 10% in the last year. This is in comparison to houses across the UK which lost .4% of their value.
These figures, put together by real-estate broker Knight Frank and included homes in in Belgravia, Hyde Park, Kensington, Chelsea, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Marylebone, St John’s Wood and Knightsbridge. The average price of these homes is £3.7million.
Buyers From Elsewhere
So who is snapping up these pricey homes? Some of them are being purchased by buyers in Russia and other parts of the Soviet bloc, while others are being purchased by Middle Easter tycoons. As Stuart Bailey, head of Knight Frank’s Belgravia and Knightsbridge office, said, ‘These buyers are coming from politically unstable countries. It’s an exit strategy.’
Gráinne Gilmore, who is the head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said that the capital should be ready for even more rises in prices this year. Interestingly, London is really the choice for foreign buyers. More than 60% of all homes that are prices over £2million have been getting purchased by overseas buyers. This figure is even higher than that in New York, where 15% of the sales are to foreigners.