Buyers from Hong Kong and mainland China now represent the largest group of international investors in London\u2019s luxury residential real estate market, according to a report Monday from London-based brokerage Beauchamp Estates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buyers from the two countries now account for 15% of international buyer transactions priced above \u00a31 million (US$1.22 million) across the city’s prime areas, and 20% of deals above \u00a310 million, overtaking investors from Russia and India who had previously been London\u2019s biggest overseas spenders, the brokerage said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report didn’t state what time frame the data covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since December 2019, when the U.K.\u2019s general election delivered a welcome dose of political certainty to domestic and overseas buyers alike, Beauchamp Estates has sold more than \u00a3300 million worth of luxury London residential property to Hong Kong buyers in some of the city\u2019s most-coveted neighborhoods, including Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Islington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buyers are typically purchasing new homes or historic properties that have newly refurbished super-luxury interiors, Marcus O\u2019Brien, Sales Negotiator at Beauchamp Estates Private Office, said in the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a separate report from brokerage Aston Chase, demand has been increasing from Hong Kong in particular since the region\u2019s\u00a0widespread political protests began<\/a>\u00a0in March 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though interest waned at the start of the year and during the peak of London\u2019s coronavirus lockdowns, since the English market resumed operating in recent weeks, inquiry levels from Hong Kong residents has increased by 50%, with buyers eager to make a deal before a possible second wave in coronavirus infections, Aston Chase said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New security laws in the region that are expected to be introduced by China imminently, and that could curb free speech and protest, are further underpinning demand, according to Mark Pollack, director and co-founder of Aston Chase, as is the U.K.\u2019s announcement that it would potentially offer three million Hong Kong residents British citizenship in response to the new law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n