Russian buyers have pushed prime property prices in central London close to their peak levels. Of the foreign buyers currently surging into the market, 112 per cent are Russian.
The head of Knight Frank?s Russian desk, Elena Norton, said: ?Buyers from Russia and the CIS states have increased interest in London?s luxury market on the back of recent events in the Eurozone.?
Another factor that has influenced this trend is the political and economic stability of Russia itself, as well as the relative weakness of the pound. Worries about the country?s stability in economic and political terms have stimulated a surge to the London market.
This is good news in a property market that has seen wild speculation over the last few months. FT.com cited Knight Frank in reporting that central London house prices rose by 1.4 per cent in May.
The agency said that this was the 14th consecutive monthly price improvement in this market. Furthermore, current house prices are only 6.4 per cent below a market peak last seen in March 2008.
In spite of gloomy predictions from some experts, the general feeling towards property buying and selling would appear to be favourable at the end of the spring season.
Liam Bailey, the head of residential research at Knight Frank said that there was a sharp rise in prospective sellers wishing to test the market. He said that there was a 64 per cent growth of property owners looking for pre-sale advice and valuations.
Despite an expected slowdown in the market prior to the election, new instructions rose by a third during April. There is therefore little shortage of property on offer for either domestic or foreign investors in London property.
