Overseas investors continue to dominate London’s property market and in the first half of this year, their investment totalled £4.15bn – 75% of the total market, according to new research by BNP Paribas Real Estate, the leading property adviser. Interestingly, investment from the Far East alone rose 166% in the second quarter of this year to £1.04bn.
In the submarkets, 82% of City investment in H1 2013 was from overseas buyers, in the West End 66% of investment was from overseas buyers and in Midtown 70% of investment was from overseas investors.
When analysing the London submarkets in further detail, investment into City offices in Q2 2013, rose by 12% to £1.5bn compared to the first quarter of this year, investment into Midtown offices rose 100% to £340m compared to the first quarter of this year, whereas, in the West End, the market remained stable in Q2 2013 at £810m. Elsewhere, Docklands investment levels dropped dramatically in the second quarter, following a positive first quarter when the largest deal at 5 Canada Square completed.
BNP Paribas Real Estate’s senior director of London investment, Richard Garside, said: “London continues to be a target for overseas investors from all parts of the globe. This demand ranges from seasoned investors through to new interest being generated from emerging and deregulated economies. All parties are attracted to London by the high quality of investment stock and the mature and transparent nature of our market. Furthermore, recent renewed tenant and leasing activity has underpinned the market fundamentals and positive rental growth projections.”
Please note: These figures relate to our classification system. For the City we include postcodes E1, EC1, EC2, EC3 & EC4, for the West End we include postcodes W1, W1, W8, SW1, SW3 & SW7, for Midtown we include postcodes WC1 & WC2 and for the Docklands we include postcodes E14 & E16.
