Foreign buyers have poured money into pricey London properties recently. Nearly £400 million, or $520 million, to be exact.
One Chinese buyer spent £105 million, or $136 million, on a penthouse and another unit at One Grosvenor Square, reported the Sunday Telegraph. It was once the U.S. embassy and later home to the Canadian High Commission. Another property in the same development, the Ambassador’s House, sold for about £50 million, or $65 million. Yet another buyer shelled out £55 million, or $71 million, at British Land’s Clarges, the report said. Oh, and one of the penthouses at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Mayfair got an offer around £30 million, or $39 million.
The string of high-end deals for central London properties comes amid a tough market, proving to Savills’ Edward Lewis that foreign buyers still view London as an attractive long-term investment.
“There are plenty of shiny apartments and lovely terraced houses out there,” Lewis told the Telegraph, “but sometimes when more rare and unique stock comes through, that’s selling more quickly.”
London has also attracted foreign investors to its commercial properties. Despite uncertainties surrounding Brexit, overseas buyers spent more on commercial property in the city in the first half of this year than in central Paris, Manhattan, Munich and Frankfurt combined. [Telegraph] — Meenal Vamburkar