If You Want To Buy Property, London Is Still A Sound Investment
Monday, March 17th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
When it comes to property, UK house prices are starting to slow down and some experts are saying they have reached their peak. But if you are still looking to buy property london has always had the highest growth rates and best returns, so how has the capital faired in the slowdown? Surprisingly for those investors still looking to purchase property london still has many excellent opportunities.
We will show you in this article that contrary to many experts opinion, the London flat and housing market continues to provide an excellent opportunity for investors and will probably carry on doing so for a long time.
An important consideration is the large discrepancies between different London borough’s when it comes to prices and growth potential. While the growth in some areas are considered to be flattening out, many others have still a long way to go before reaching their full potential. In fact on the contrary, due to regeneration, many areas of London are going to see a lot of growth over the next decade. Therefore if you are seeking to purchase property, London presents a huge opportunity.
For instance one of the best places to invest in London due to growth potential is Notting Hill. This is a very fashionable area, however prices recently dropped. This has created an opportunity to buy property to let in a very trendy area as prices are now starting to rise again.
Stratford in East London is another prime location. It is benefiting from huge investment and regeneration due to the 2012 London Olympics. Over the next five years this part of London is going to undergo rapid transformation. Buying property for sale in this area could prove to be a very lucrative investment. Peckham is another area to consider. This used to be one of the most run down areas in the country. However it recently became the recipient of a £300 million investment and regeneration package and has now even won a tourism award! So London still has many superb investment opportunities, even if you are seeking to buy cheap property.
What you may find surprising is that the price of property has been and continues to be affected by investors from overseas. To see just how much effect these buyers are having on property for sale, consider that over 60% of all properties over £4 million bought in central London are purchased by foreign buyers. Usually these are high paid executives and brokers working in the city
In the past they would purchase a property on moving to London then sell it when they left their job. However due to the price rises of London property many are now retaining ownership of the properties and looking on them as a capital investment while earning income from property rental. This along with other factors has continued to create the shortage of properties on the market which has further pushed up prices.
This shortage caused by foreign investors and other home grown factors is what makes London such a great property investment opportunity. In fact within the next ten years the number of people living in London will skyrocket by eight hundred thousand. Due to the population increase, the demand for property won’t even be met even by the large number of new houses, flats and apartments that are planned to be built. This means that there is going to be a housing shortage in London for many years to come.
In spite of the incredible speed at which additional properties are being constructed, they still won’t being able to match the housing requirements … finding people looking for rental accommodation will always be easy as long as housing demand exceeds the supply of available property to rent.
So as you can see, buying property to let in London is definitely still a very profitable opportunity.
The huge variation in house prices in different boroughs, combined with regeneration investment, overseas buying, the demand for new housing and property for rent, means that if you are looking to buy property london still represents a solid opportunity and will continue to do so for some time.
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