Wealthy foreigners target new builds in luxury London home buying spree
The number of central London homes sold to super-wealthy buyers at above the £15 million mark rose 10% to 54 last year, new figures show today.
The growth was driven by purchases by buyers from the Gulf, the USA and China. The sales were worth £1.3 billion in total, up from just over £1 billion in 2022 and £553 million in 2020.
Agents Beauchamp Estates, which compiled the figures, expect a similar trend in 2024.
They also said they have seen a shift in demand away from traditional London mansions towards new build apartments because of security and privacy concerns and a desire for state of the art luxury amenities.
The survey analysed £15 million-plus deals data from LONRES, combined with the agency’s own in-house figures.
It estimates that 60% of the deals in Prime Central London for homes valued over £15 million were to buyers from just four countries — the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China — who purchased about £780 million of luxury property.
Belgravia has been London’s top address for ultra-prime sales, account ing for 13, or almost a quarter, of the £15million-plus deals.
It was followed by Mayfair and Knightsbridge, both with eight deals, Kensington with seven sales, Chelsea (four), Hyde Park (four) and Whitehall (three). There were two major deals over the £100 million mark, Hanover Lodge in Regent’s Park, which went for £113 million to an Indian bil lionaire from a Russian vendor, and the sale of Aberconway House in Mayfair for £138 million, purchased by another Indian billionaire.
Gary Hersham, founding director of Beauchamp Estates, said: “Buoyant oil and gas prices and booming domestic property markets have generated huge cash reserves in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the sheikhs have chosen to invest a significant chunk of these revenues in London super-prime residential property.”
