[Goalseexere]

Australians help fuel London real estate boom

Charles Miranda
September 10, 201211:27PM



While this lavish London mansion may be out of almost everyone's reach, there has been an influx of foreign buyers to the British capital. Source: AFP

THE London housing market is defying global trends and experiencing a booming recovery and Australian buyers are partly to thank.

Three reports released in the UK this week show prime central property prices up by as much as 49 per cent since 2009, when the recession took a stronghold following a price peak the previous year.

While in Australia the property market remains subdued, it appears Aussie buyers are looking to countries like the UK to get a bigger bang for their buck and make the most of foreign, recession-wracked sales.

In the UK, the Knight Frank report found 41 per cent of buyers in London were from outside the UK. Buyers from Russia, India, Italy and the US topped the list, with Australians coming in seventh position.

It found in 2008 its agency sold prime London real estate to 36 nationalities while in 2011 it doubled to 62.

A Savills report also found a growing trend of foreign buyers of London properties over the past 12 months particularly after prices bottomed out. And London’s west was still a favourite with Aussies who were making the most of the exchange rate.

“There has never been a better time for Australians to look to purchase a London residential property from a currency perspective,” Savills Fulham agent Charlie Bubear said.

“There are certainly active buyers in the market and we have noticed an uplift in requirements from Australian buyers compared to five years ago.”

He added that the biggest buyers were still from the eurozone as well as China and Russia.

EC Harris, a global built asset consultancy group, said London was still proving to be a magnet for investment particularly from pension funds looking for long term stable investment returns away from the volatile markets.

The foreign demand for property, particularly from the “Asian region” including Australia, was being credited with a $58.5 million development boom in the capital’s top suburbs.