Prime London property shows signs of value growth
Wednesday, 22 December 2010 12:10 PM
While headlines warn of falling house prices across Britain, top properties in London appear to have shown much greater resilience, property advisor Savills has said.
According to the group, prices in prime London areas have shown much less significant declines in the final quarter of 2010 compared with the rest of the UK, while the most central addresses have even seen marginal price growth.
Despite the Nationwide UK House Price Index currently showing average falls of two per cent for the three months up to the end of November, the Savills quarterly prime central London index has noted dips of just 0.2 per cent.
Yolande Barnes, the company's head of research, said that the "defining characteristic" of the capital's top property markets is their ability to act as an "equity funnel".
"Not only is it the first port of call for domestically generated money such as City bonuses, but the prime London market attracts large amounts of capital from all over the world," she explained.
According to Barnes, the world's billionaires buy international property in a similar way to gold – as a store of wealth in case of social or economic instability in their home country.
She added: "London is unique even amongst the leading global cities where international wealth is held in real estate.
"In central London, it is possible to own houses freehold, thereby buying into a limited commodity," the expert explained, suggesting that physically owning a piece of the capital's land has a special "emotional appeal".
Looking at annual growth, Savills prime London index ends this year in positive territory, with all prime property having risen by 4.6 per cent in 2010.
