The 100 housing transactions per week in Central London contribute £1.5 billion per annum to the economy and is the sixth most important source of revenue.
Speaking at the London Central Portfolio (LCP) debate on prime property in the city, CEO, Naomi Heaton, stressed her belief that the limited ‘prime’ stock for sale would see prices continue to rise, making this kind of property a safe bet for investors.
She says that the sense of “exclusivity” associated with these properties, which are unobtainable to most, makes them even more appealing.
Central London consists of just two of the 33 boroughs which make up Greater London; they are the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster, encompassing just six square miles around Hyde Park.
Prices in this area outstrip those in the rest of London by almost six to one, costing an average £1.4 million according to the Land Registry’s latest figures. Meanwhile, the average house price in the rest of London stands at £472,630 and £247,549 in the rest of the country.
When queried as to whether the accelerated house prices in Central London were contributing to the rise in costs of property outside of the ‘prime’ zone, Heaton dismissed this theory, saying that the limited amount of stock in these areas that are most desirable to foreign investors could not have much of an impact on the rest of London, with just 6,000 units changing hands a year.
She surmised that it is, instead, the lack of affordable and new build housing supply that is driving prices up for the general public.
LCP is now launching a £100 million fund to buy one and two bed apartments in the prime areas. The fund, named London Central Apartments II, is the company’s fourth Prime London residential fund and the only Sharia compliant of such in the UK.
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