London luxury home prices hit new highs

[PeteC]

LONDON - London's luxury homes are now the most expensive in the world, experts say, with foreign buyers, salary bonuses and steady interest rates driving prices up in the capital's overheated property market.

Prime residential property in London now costs around 1,200 pounds ($2,300) per square foot, compared to 1,000 pounds ($1,900) in New York, according to CB Richard Ellis Hamptons International.
And the so-called "super prime properties" in London are going for up to 3,000 pounds ($5,715) per square foot, compared with 2,700 pounds ($5,100) per square foot in New York.

"In terms of time zones and location, London is the most attractive place to be," said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at the Knight Frank real estate agency.

Prices for central London homes worth more than 1.5 million pounds ($2.9 million) climbed 21 percent for the year ended Aug. 31, according to Knight Frank.

Foreign buyers own 51 percent of the 2 million-pound-plus ($3.8 million) market in London, Knight Frank research shows, compared to 34 percent of the equivalent market in New York and 27 percent in Paris.

The most expensive homes sold this year — a 33 million-pound ($62.8 million) house in Belgrave Square and a former office block on Park Lane — were sold by the Savills real estate agency to buyers from the Middle East.

But even those are dwarfed by the world record 70 million pounds ($133.2 million) paid by Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal for his home at Kensington Palace Gardens in April 2004.

In comparison, in New York's Manhattan, home to the most expensive real estate in the United States, the average price of a luxury apartment — calculated from the top 10 percent of all transactions — was $5 million in the second quarter, down from 3 percent a year earlier when prices hit a record $5.2 million, according to Miller Samuel.

The U.S. market boom is ending following 17 interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve.

In Britain, interest rates held steady for a year until a surprise hike last month.

Market activity, mortgage lending and house prices all remain strong in London, said Jenny Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE. "With continued strength in the London market, we expect this trend to continue," she said.

Foreign buyers like London because of its position as the emerging global financial center and a strong tradition of ease of access and open communications, Bailey said.

"Over the past five or 10 years, London has gained a larger share of international financial activity," he said. "And, unlike other European financial centers like Frankfurt, buyers are attracted by all the other things the city has to offer."

Russians, other Europeans and Americans already are a strong presence in the London market, and Asian buyers are taking an increasing slice: The volume of Asian purchasers has grown 60 percent over the past five years, Bailey said.

However, he said strict currency transfer rules are holding back investment from China and India. The firm expects to see a significant increase in Indian buyers in 2007 when changes to the rules governing the export of capital are introduced.

The high prices demanded for prime residences also have been underpinned locally by the 7.5 billion pound in bonuses paid this year to around 330,000 workers at financial firms in the British capital.

Another reason for the continuing high prices is the relatively small number of residences available to buy in the center of London, many of which are only available as leasehold properties.

A leasehold property means that buyers can only purchase the right to live in the building for a set number of years — the number that the lease has to run — and at the end of the lease, ownership reverts to the freeholder. To live there, you pay the landlord a ground rent as well as a service charge to manage any communal areas inside and outside the building.

In most cases, leaseholds run for more than 100 years.

One man happy with the soaring property market in central London would be the Duke of Westminster. He inherited 300 acres of land — in two of the city's most desirable neighborhoods, upmarket Mayfair and Belgravia.

[STEVE G]

Prcscct quoted;
But even those are dwarfed by the world record 70 million pounds ($133.2 million) paid by Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal for his home at Kensington Palace Gardens in April 2004.


Apparently this place has just twelve bedrooms! Now I have no need of twelve bedrooms, but if I was to pay that much for a house I would want at least twenty or thirty and would not be disappointed by fifty.

[caller]

Of course, none of this means Jack S**t to the average guy in the street!

London may be fashionebly cosmopolitan, but in so many respects its not a town I can relate to any longer.

[Guess]

Of course, none of this means Jack S**t to the average guy in the street!

London may be fashionebly cosmopolitan, but in so many respects its not a town I can relate to any longer.

You are right but is does effect the average guy in the street much more than the people who can afford to buy multimillion dollar houses and appartements. The prices are being systematically pushed up by the likes of Knight Frank and Hamptons for ther own financial profiteering.

I could blow just about every statement witten in that report right out of the water. It is all bullshit marketing propoganda to entice rich Asians to buy properties in London. The net effect as these people are conned by the bullshit and pay the inflated prices then move all the prices below in an upward direction with them therefore affecting the average man in the street. I will give you one example of completely fabricated bullshit in that report which is full of made up on the spot statistics.

"Foreign buyers like London because of its position as the emerging global financial center"

Banking (ie finance) first appeared in Babylonian times. It became an establihed institution in Italy in the fifteenth century. The Industry then expanded into other major commercial centres such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London. With the colonisation of North America by the British in the seventeenth century London became the dominant financial centre of the world and with later aquisitions of Singapore and parts of China became even lager and covered the whole planets finance. London retained that position until the end of the nineteenth century when the independent US and recently revolutionised Japan emerged as the British Empire was on the decline. At some time in the early twentieth century New York overtook London at least until the crash. It then re-overtook London at the lead up and begining of the second world war and has stayed ther ever since. After the second World War Japan emerged as an Eastern competitor to London, Shanghai and Singapore as the UK began to lose all its eastern aquisitions. For about 20 years in the seventies, eighties and nineties Tokyo was a larger financial centre than London.

Sorry for so much waffle that some of you might have found interesting but for Hapmtons to state that London is an emerging financial global centre is the biggest load of bullshit I have heard for a long time.

I bet they don't mention the filthy streets, the muggers, the high crime rate, the extortionate taxes, the high transport costs, the high service charges, the massive retail mark ups and the ludicrous cost of banking in the grotty city in their glossy multilingula brouchures.

Why dont they just print a flyer with "Come to live in London, the home of Stamford Bridge" and save themselves reams of lies.

But thanks for the post anyway Pete.

BTW a little addition to my rant. Banking has always been dominated by Jews as Christians and Muslims see it as an immoral business (spot on in my opinion). This has of course lead to the massive wealth aquired by the Jews in Europe and the US that is currently financing the Isreali (Polish and Russian exiles) conduct their terror campaign against their neihgbours so that the British and the Amercans can hang on to their cheap environmentally unfriendly oil for as long as possible.

[caller]

So anyway, what ever happened to North End Road Market?

The Muslims - mainly Banglas that run the 3rd rate food places in Brick Lane (when not being raided by IND or the incompetents at the DWP) are protesting about filming Monica Ali's very enjoyable read! Tut, do not raise one single index finger of criticism of the learned shroud.

Barrow boys have all gone upmarket a la' Michael Caine.

Battersea is the new Chelsea, Chelsea is now the poor boys Kensington, Oxford Street is the cesspit it always was. Fulham is only redeemed by Chelsea (you have to know it to get it). Putney gets the overspill it wishes it didn't have and the local boys move down the A3 corridor.

For the average guy in the street? Bewilderement - where did his life go? Who to cling on to next time around?

It ain't Tone, It won't be Gordon or anyone Scottish, nor Dave, nor the mess of the Lib Dems.

Interesting times? Me? I'm just looking for the first flight out once I can afford it.

I've drunk too much of the red stuff and have to face work tomorrow - yuk!

[Guess]

Barrow boys have all gone upmarket a la' Michael Caine.

Not a lotta people know that


For the average guy in the street? Bewilderement - where did his life go? Who to cling on to next time around?

Interesting times? Me? I'm just looking for the first flight out once I can afford it.

So there you have it. You get your flat in Kingston, you comute to work every day, get your pay slip once per month that tells yoiu what the bastards have thieved from you and what little you have left. You pay you bills and you check your disposable. You nip down to Sainsbury's and get your weekly sustinence and treat yourself to a few bottle of Chilean Sauvignon to keep going for the week, get your train ticket and start the cycle all over agian. You can't get out because you can not save enough for the air fare. UK has been turned into a playground for the rich investor at the expense of the new working classes.

I've drunk too much of the red stuff and have to face work tomorrow - yuk!

Try a Chilean Chardonay next time. Don't taste so good but tou'll feel better in the morning. Less anti freeze I think.

[lomuamart]

Around the time I bought my property in London, some 15 years ago, Maggie Thatcher had brought in "Right to Buy" a few years before.
An ex-girlfriend had a property in central London that was owned by her brother who worked in Manhattan. He let his little sister buy in 50%. Couple of years later, he arrived unexpectedly in the UK and announced that the two of them should rent the place out and move on to bigger things. My ex didn't want to. It was close to work for her and me - I hadn't bought at this stage and was living with her. Well, big brother told her the financial truth, "any money I can lose on not renting, you've got contribute to the mortgage".
I implored her to talk to her parents. She did and the reply was "well if he says it makes financial sense, it must do".
I hated her brother. Just as well he didn't come over very often and walk in and crash on the floor.
My place, I bought off a family who'd used "Right to Buy". The lease was for 125 years. They couldn't sell for 3 or 4 years, without penalties and as soon as that was over, they did to me.
They paid Southwark Council - as freeholders - about 35,000 pounds. I bought the place for 83,500.
So, another local person leaves the area thinking they're well off. In the meantime, I won't even think about telling you how much the place is worth now. They can never get back into their roots in central London again.
So, Guess, whilst the OP was about seriously expensive places and your reply was about pushing overall prices up, can I suggest that you appreciate something of what happened politically a good number of years ago.
The millionairre bracket has nothing to do with it, IMHO. It's all political and really getting bad news over there. I saw recently that something daft like 50%? of essential service workers (nurses, ambulance, fire brigade, public sector) can't afford a home now. So, the government is going to try and build xxx number of new houses for these people at preferential rates of interest.
A sorry state of affairs, indeed. However, one of the reasons I'm going back home in a few days is to check how the market is doing, with a view to selling, maybe in the next couple of years.
I can wax lyrical about "socialist" ideals, but at the end of the day, it's all I and my wife have got. So, I've got to be careful.

[caller]

Barrow boys have all gone upmarket a la' Michael Caine.

Not a lotta people know that


For the average guy in the street? Bewilderement - where did his life go? Who to cling on to next time around?

Interesting times? Me? I'm just looking for the first flight out once I can afford it.

So there you have it. You get your flat in Kingston, you comute to work every day, get your pay slip once per month that tells yoiu what the bastards have thieved from you and what little you have left. You pay you bills and you check your disposable. You nip down to Sainsbury's and get your weekly sustinence and treat yourself to a few bottle of Chilean Sauvignon to keep going for the week, get your train ticket and start the cycle all over agian. You can't get out because you can not save enough for the air fare. UK has been turned into a playground for the rich investor at the expense of the new working classes.

I've drunk too much of the red stuff and have to face work tomorrow - yuk!

Try a Chilean Chardonay next time. Don't taste so good but tou'll feel better in the morning. Less anti freeze I think.

Guess,

Are you spying on me!

I wouldn't be seen dead with chardonney from anywhere but I am partial to S. American wines and ever since that bloody (good) film "Sideways" and even funnier book, Pinot Noir. I prefer Waitrose and I have a house, I drive to work and live in the Royal Borough, not the town itself! Everything else was spot on - you've been there!

Lomu - I would seriously consider leaving it a few more years before selling if you can manage that. The markets quite static at the moment.

Are you aware of sites like this:

http://www.upmystreet.com/

http://www.ourproperty.co.uk/

Since 2000, by law, all prices paid for a property are added to the land registry documents, now on line, their own website is excellent.

http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/

[Guess]

So, Guess, whilst the OP was about seriously expensive places and your reply was about pushing overall prices up, can I suggest that you appreciate something of what happened politically a good number of years ago.
The millionairre bracket has nothing to do with it, IMHO. It's all political and really getting bad news over there. I saw recently that something daft like 50%? of essential service workers (nurses, ambulance, fire brigade, public sector) can't afford a home now. So, the government is going to try and build xxx number of new houses for these people at preferential rates of interest.
A sorry state of affairs, indeed. However, one of the reasons I'm going back home in a few days is to check how the market is doing, with a view to selling, maybe in the next couple of years.
I can wax lyrical about "socialist" ideals, but at the end of the day, it's all I and my wife have got. So, I've got to be careful.

Yes I know all that as I have said before I was in the City for almosy fifteen years on and off eithe side of Margerts Thatchers "how do I get elected for another term decision"

You are quite right and that is a very good graphical description that probably could be repeated around the country about half a million times. I am not saying the top end artfificial uplifting is solely responsible for pushing up prices its just another (and the latest) factor in the whole equation. One the most significant factors in the rise in house prices in the last two decades was when one of maggie's dick head of a Chancellor of the Exchequer decide that a the same time as a record low in interest rates would would allow double Miras for another (year I tthink) at the same time that salaries werre increasing at a much higher rate than infllation. (3rd and 4th quarters of 1989 if my memory serves me correctly). His statement was that people would go straight out with their newly found disposable income and invest it in stock and other solid FI transactions. A serious misjudgement of the human nature I think. What really happened was that people did their sums and realised that they could afford at lewast twice the mortgage that they were currently paying so they all went out like lemmings and moved up the ladder selling ther 50,000 pounds semis and terraces getting another 30,000 pounds mortgage and moving into their dream detached three or 4 bedroom house which could later become the perfect nest. Of course first time buyers who one year before could only dream of their own hous could now buy a one or two bedroom appartment. The demand then drmatically outweighed the supply causing massed inflation. As much as 70% in (strangely enough yellowbelly land was hit one of the hardest) six months was recorded. Of course like many bubbles it burst in the first quarter of 1990 and never recoverd in real terms until 1996 leaving more people with negative equity than ever before.

So that is three examples of how not to handle the propery business. The onequoted by Pete is just the latest and is geared at conning Asians out of their dosh at the expense of everybody else. The bad thing about that wher the other two a combination of circumstnce and incompitence by elected officials the latest by Hamptons ang Knight Frank is supposed be by professional orginastions that give buyes acccurate independent asdvice when really what they are doing is spoutin false statisitic and downright lies to people who would not know the difference.

If I went along to Knight Franks plush Sunningdale office and grafitteed their wall with " you are a load of theiving lying bastards" they would probably win the lible case in court.

Oh sod it the damn soap box has collapsed again.

[Guess]

Try a Chilean Chardonay next time. Don't taste so good but tou'll feel better in the morning. Less anti freeze I think.

Guess,

Are you spying on me!

I wouldn't be seen dead with chardonney from anywhere but I am partial to S. American wines and ever since that bloody (good) film "Sideways" and even funnier book, Pinot Noir. I prefer Waitrose and I have a house, I drive to work and live in the Royal Borough, not the town itself! Everything else was spot on - you've been there!

Don't forget that Chablis is a Chardonay, so forget this crap about antipodean rubbish and buy a bottlle of the real thing. Make sure it is at the right temperature and get yourself a lobster thermidore with asparagus tips to start. Make sure you house is completely secure, all the windows are covered and there are no hidden cameras. This way you can enjoy your lobster, drink two bottles of the stuff and even have the luxury of being able to do it all wearing just a pair of ladies panties.

[caller]

Guess - now I KNOW that you are spying on me?!!!

How? Why?

I will auction a pair - barely used and washed - for HHDRC!!!

Just leave me alone!!!!

P.S I'm currently working my way theough a bottle of "The Ned". Which is a limited edition Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough in NZ, on sale at Waitrose. The Ned being the highest point in said region apparantly? I have to say, its rather nice, surprisingly floral for a NZ Sauvignon, and well worth it at the introductory price of pounds 6.59. I doubt I'll bother at the usual retail price of pound 9.99. There are others, Chlilean, SA, that are very quaffable at less than half the price. A nice vintage from Nepanthe at coonowarra in the Adelaide Hills would influence me as well - its not been up to scratch in the last couple of years.

How will I cope in HH?

[Guess]

How will I cope in HH?

No problem just get a crate of 2005 Chateau Nong Khai. locally about 120 baht per bottle, elsewhere 200 baht per bottle. Needs corking for a while first.

[caller]

How will I cope in HH?

No problem just get a crate of 2005 Chateau Nong Khai. locally about 120 baht per bottle, elsewhere 200 baht per bottle. Needs corking for a while first.

I'll get the missus to pick up a bottle or two en route to London! Better still, if I come out there to travel with her, I'll share a glass with you! Albeit thats quite a detour from NE of Korat.

Some Thai wine (whine?) I have tried has actually been okay - if it really was Thai?