House Buying Blog » UK

Most Expensive Cities to Buy Property

Admin — Wed, 09 May 2007 11:44:23 +0000

Illuminating new research from Knight Frank/Citi Private Bank has discovered that London is officially the most expensive city in the world in which to buy property. London has fended off traditionally expensive cities such as New York, Tokyo and has even outstripped prices in Monaco.

The research suggests that pricing for £1 million plus homes has been fuelled not only by wealthy foreign individuals (59% of the luxury property market in London) but also by the large City bonuses on offer.

The top 20 most expensive cities to buy a property (£ per square foot) are -

London	2,300
Monaco	2,190
New York	1,600
Hong Kong	1,600
Tokyo	1,100
Cannes	940
St Tropez	930
Sydney	820
Paris	790
Rome	780
Moscow	770
Venice	670
St Petersberg	650
Florence	540
Geneva	500
Madrid	470
Dublin	470
Milan	420
Birmingham	420
Mumbai	410

Buy to Let Property Market in the UK Thriving

Admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:29:38 +0000

The buy to let property market in the UK is currently being fuelled by a number of increasingly affluent landlords in the belief that bricks and mortar will provide the best form of investment available. Recent research suggests that 1 million more individuals are set to purchase a buy to let property in the next four years and by the year 2011 the number of buy to let investors will have doubled.

Factors determining investment in buy to let property include worries about inadequate pensions, higher divorce and immigration rates and an ever increasing student population leading to a demand for rental properties.

Currently 1 in 10 mortgages granted in the UK is for buy to let investors with 58% having two or fewer properties. Obviously it will not have gone unnoticed amongst these investors that average rents have increased by 53% in England in the last decade.

Economists are predicting further interest rates being made by the Bank of England this year but at this time this is not slowing the appetite for the voracious UK buy to let investor.

London Housing Market Buoyant

Admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:23:09 +0000

Property in the most salubrious areas of London are currently growing in price faster than any other time in the last 28 years according to estate agent Knight Frank. The estate agent claims that £1 million plus houses in the smart areas of London such as Mayfair, Chelsea and Belgravia increased in price by 2.6 % alone in the month of February and during 2006 the increase was a staggering 31% overall.

It is believed that the surge in prices is being fuelled by huge City bonuses and an influx of millionaire buyers from overseas countries such as Russia and Italy.

Knight Frank believe that the price increases in central London will continue well into 2007 and forecast an overall increase of 12% for the year. This forecast is believed to be on the conservative side due to increases so far this year of 5.6%.

Regional UK Property Price Statistics between 2005-2006

Admin — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:57:06 +0000

Ordered by highest percentage increases from the years 2005-2006

NORTHERN IRELAND
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£125,628
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£181,031
Annual % Change	44.1

GREATER LONDON
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£287,367
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£355,097
Annual % Change	23.6

SCOTLAND
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£118,377
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£137,317
Annual % Change	16

SOUTH EAST
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£237,263
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£273,859
Annual % Change	15.4

SOUTH WEST
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£214,413
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£239,896
Annual % Change	11.9

EAST ANGLIA
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£193,246
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£216,304
Annual % Change	11.9

YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£148,365
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£164,340
Annual % Change	10.8

EAST MIDLANDS
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£157,391
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£169,417
Annual % Change	7.6

WEST MIDLANDS
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£173,751
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£186,068
Annual % Change	7.1

NORTH WEST
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£164,529
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£176,136
Annual % Change	7.1

NORTH
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£142,483
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£150,661
Annual % Change	5.7

WALES
Average Property Price Dec 2005	£168,356
Average Property Price Dec 2006	£175,625
Annual % Change	4.3

Statistics courtesy of the Nationwide Building Society and Rightmove