Real estate in London: increasing prestige and profitable investment

Recommendation points

• Why exactly London
• Business conditions
• Favorable purchase conditions
• Education
• sights
• Location and investment
• Most expensive areas
• More affordable offers
• New buildings in London

The phrase: “London is the capital of Great Britain” is well known to all schoolchildren who are just starting to learn English. London … City of fogs, winds, cyclists, historical monuments and parks … The best education in the world, new fashion and music, royal palaces and the most expensive apartments – all this about her, about the capital of England.

You can make a trip to this extraordinary city for various reasons – visit one of 200 museums, see the Tower and Westminster Abbey, become a student at Cambridge, as well as buy real estate.

Over the past few years, apartments and houses in London have been in high demand among Russian buyers, who make up over 35% of all foreign investors in real estate in the city. It has already become customary to see in the news that another Russian billionaire has become the owner of an apartment in the center of the English capital, and housing is often among the ten most expensive residential properties in the world.

Why exactly London

What attracts Russians who have earned a large enough capital to this city so much? There are actually many reasons:

Business conditions

First, the ideal conditions for business and financial activities. So, London has long been a recognized business and financial capital of the planet, and for the last 16 years in a row, it is the capital of Great Britain that has been recognized as the best city for organizing and doing business. The economy of England is one of the most reliable and stable in the world today. And, finally, it’s no secret that London has become the unofficial capital of Russian IPOs; it is on the London Stock Exchange that many Russian companies place their shares..

Favorable purchase conditions

Secondly, order and favorable, simple terms of purchase. In particular, the advantages of acquiring real estate in London include the highest level of financial and personal security, protection from the strictly enforced legislation. The state has an attractive taxation system for non-residents, and when buying real estate, foreigners enjoy the same rights as citizens of the country.

Compared to Russia, there is almost no corruption in England, and bureaucratic obstacles are minimized.

The checkout process is the same for everyone, non-residents can get a mortgage on the same terms as native Londoners. And most importantly, the ownership of real estate gives companies and organizations a number of advantages – they receive the rights of residents and new opportunities for doing business.

Education

Third, an English education is practically a guarantee of a great career in the future. Many parents, whose financial capabilities allow them to make such an expensive “investment” in the promising career of their children, send their children to study in London. Diplomas from Cambridge and Oxford have long been symbols of excellent education and open doors for graduates of the offices of the world’s leading companies. So buying an apartment in London can be one of the stages of getting an education and is done in the hope that the new place of work will also be in the English capital..

Margaret Huddy. Oxford University

sights

Fourthly, London is just a very beautiful and interesting city. In fact, the capital of Great Britain is considered one of the greenest megacities in the world, about 30% of the city’s territory is occupied by parks and squares (there are more than 140 of them), the historical center is carefully protected by the state and retains its original appearance.

London is full of attractions, places of interest and entertainment, and is the international capital of fashion, art, music and sports..

In terms of numbers, it should be noted that the city has 150 theaters, 12 thousand restaurants, more than 40 thousand shops, about 600 cinemas, 250 galleries, over 5 thousand bars and pubs, 80 markets … The very atmosphere of London is a combination of unchanging traditions and innovative ideas, a real revelation for visitors.

Location and investment

Fifth, proximity and profitability of investments. The flight from London to Moscow takes only 3.5 hours, the air communication of the capital of England can be called perfect – there are 5 international airports, allowing you to quickly get to anywhere in the world. English is rightfully considered an international language of communication, and the British themselves are very tolerant of foreigners and welcome foreign investment in their own economy and real estate. It should be noted that over the past 40 years, the cost of 1 square meter in London has increased 51 times! And now real estate prices are also growing, demonstrating enviable stability, so investing in real estate in London is considered one of the most reliable and profitable.

Most expensive areas

Finding out the average cost per square meter in the English capital is an extremely difficult task and is comparable to the notorious “average temperature in a hospital.” In London, there are practically no standard apartments and houses, each building is individual, and the layout is so diverse that after visiting two apartments located one above the other in one entrance it is difficult to find 5 common features.

In general, of course, it is worth noting the high cost of apartments in the historic center. The construction of new houses here is almost completely prohibited, only the reconstruction of the external appearance of buildings is carried out, while their architecture is preserved, so that the demand is very high, and the supply is limited. It is in the areas of Westminster, Knights Bridge, Notting Hill, Kensington and Chelsea that you can find the most expensive apartments, the cost of which “starts” at 1 million pounds (about 1.59 million US dollars), and may end at 40-50 million pounds sterling (in some special cases, even this amount is far from the limit).

Jim Edwards. Westminster. 2010

According to experts, today Belgravia has become the most prestigious and high-status area for living in London, the traditional place of residence of the English elite, chosen by Russian millionaires (for example, Oleg Deripaska owns a mansion in Belgrave Square). Properties in this area of ​​the UK capital start at £ 10 million.

Representatives of the business elite usually live in Chelsea: bankers, entrepreneurs, brokers, whose place of work is the City. Chelsea Square has been named the most expensive street in London, with an average apartment price of £ 5 million.

Knights Bridge – “Knights bridge” – “knight’s bridge” – an area of ​​beautiful old mansions, the demand for which far exceeds the very limited supply. The cost of housing is approximately equal to the prices of apartments and mansions in Belgravia.

More affordable offers

However, one should not think that London real estate is exclusively the most expensive apartments, old buildings, multimillion-dollar sums and housing not for everyone. There are also sleeping areas in the English capital and, of course, new buildings. Of course, the pace of construction in London is much more modest than Moscow, but new housing is being commissioned regularly.

On average, the price of 1 square meter in the residential areas of London, for example, Tottenham and Nightingell, was set at the level of 1.5-3 thousand pounds. The principle – the closer to the center, the more expensive, operates not only in Moscow, but also in London. So, for 1 square meter in the traditionally “working” Tottenham, you will have to pay about 1.5 thousand pounds (a little more than 2 thousand US dollars), and for 1 square meter in Greenwich, closer to the center – already about 2.2 thousand pounds ( about 3 thousand dollars).

As you can see, the cost of ordinary housing in dormitories, not so far from the business and historical center of London, is less than in similar districts of Moscow by almost 40%, according to the analytical center Real Estate Market Indicators, so say that in the English capital it is impossible to find affordable housing. So, you can find an apartment with 1 or 2 bedrooms in Paddington or “intelligent” Islington for only 100-200 thousand pounds.

New buildings in London

New buildings in London are most often erected in former industrial zones, on the site of old docks. The main differences between apartments in London new buildings are rather low ceilings (usually no more than 2.4 meters), an excellent view from the window (special attention is paid to the location of the house), already fully equipped baths and kitchens and the almost complete absence of such an offer as “free layout “.

In England, it is customary to negotiate with the developer on the layout of the apartment at the initial stage of construction, the rest of the buyers purchasing ready-made housing are content with the developer’s proposals. The layout of the apartments is varied, so the choice is wide enough. You can order individual finishing or become the owner of a home with a standard finishing of the premises, in any case, the apartment is usually sold fully finished, often even with furniture, in London it is not customary to buy housing “after the builders” in order to then independently repair it.

The most expensive primary property in London today is One Hyde Park..

As mentioned above, there are very few places for construction in the capital of Great Britain itself, so an ordinary two-bedroom apartment located in Imperial Wharf, on the banks of the Thames in Chelsea, will cost the buyer no less than 600 thousand pounds. The most expensive primary property in London today is the One Hyde Park project (architectural concept created by Richard Rogers Partnership, and design by the famous Candy&Candy). In this building with magnificent views from the windows, even the cheapest apartments cost at least 4 million pounds, and even during the construction phase, the apartments were quickly sold at 40 thousand pounds per 1 square meter. By the way, in the new buildings in the capital of Great Britain, much attention is paid to environmental friendliness and “green” construction “is becoming the main type of development. For example, in the One Hyde Park project, heating will be carried out using geothermal wells, and each apartment will be equipped with special meters to control the economical use of resources..

The most affordable prices are in new buildings located on the outskirts of London, as land is much cheaper here. In these areas, you can find a small 1-bedroom apartment starting at £ 70,000.

Speaking about the demand for real estate in London, it should be noted that, despite the stable growth in prices, especially for apartments in the central regions and truly “cosmic” prices, the number of those wishing to become the owner of such a prestigious home does not decrease. According to experts, in 2011 alone the cost of luxury real estate increased by 8%, the forecast for next year is an increase in prices by at least 7%. So London houses and apartments will still remain some of the most expensive, but no less desirable on the planet..