cranes rise over London constructing
record numbers of new luxury apartments
some 35,000 of these prime homes are due
to be completed in the next 10 years a
boom spurred on by strong demand from
overseas investors after the 2008
financial crisis most of these homes are
out of the reach of ordinary Londoners
who have been squeezed by soaring
property prices and rents amid a chronic
shortage of affordable housing but the
luxury apartments range from the
relatively affordable say less than a
million pounds to the exclusive
territory of the super-rich right at the
top end are these apartments from the
developers Clive Dale in Mayfair home to
celebrities such as Nicole Kidman the
company has a handful of developments
like this across Mayfair one of London's
most exclusive districts they're aimed
at some of the world's wealthiest people
and can cost up to 25 million pounds but
how will the UK's exit from the EU
affect demand on the one hand the drop
in Sterling makes homes cheaper for
foreign buyers but on the other hand
many aspects of the UK's future
including London's future as a financial
centre are up in the air to add to that
many analysts say there were already too
many expensive homes being built in the
city no one knows the answers are no
one's got a crystal ball but it you know
the way we look at it is a weather
pattern all pass through and we other
side of it will continue doing what
we're doing the market will adjust and
the market will move on but you've got
to take it to a 10-year view over it
there is still demand for highest
quality super prime residential property
in central London
fires at this level of the market are
demanding that the ten Trinity square
development in the City of London the
target buyers are leading business
executives who are cash rich but time
poor for just 18 million pounds you
could live in an apartment like this in
10 Trinity Square with access to all the
amenities of the Four Seasons Hotel and
this view of the Tower of London if you
want the Michelin star chef cooking
within your apartment then that is
available to you but you don't need to
embrace that furthermore if you want to
use the spa the gym the pool the
restaurants the concierge services
they're all available to the buyers
as the market gets more crowded
developers are setting themselves apart
with extra services and unique locations
competition is is high I think there's a
lot of property out there and I think
that developers are having to up their
game to attract these types of
purchasers or a smaller pool purchases
not surprisingly the biggest area for
luxury home developments is Chelsea and
Fulham one of London's traditionally
exclusive areas but prime homes are
being built in many areas of the city
another fourteen billion pounds worth of
apartments are being built on the south
bank of the Thames and seven billion in
areas in or near the city of London
we're certainly seeing that the prime
central London market is more effective
than the prime fringe areas I think this
is probably because the market is
dependant into prime central London on
foreign investors and foreign investors
are taking a little bit of a holding
position at the moment whereas the prime
fringe is more owner occupier based and
we've seen in our data that 24 percent
of there's been a reduction of twenty
four percent the number of properties
sold in the first five months of this
year compared to last year whereas in
prime fringe we've actually seen an
increase in turnover of about three
percent
now that the UK has voted to leave the
EU there are question marks over whether
all of these planned apartments will
actually be built some homes were
already being sold at discounts ahead of
the vote and planning consultants now
report that projects are being put on
hold I think we're just going to see
chaos to be honest what we've seen in
the past and I look back at 1987 when
the stock market crashed then 1998 and
in 2008 is nearly does anything and the
market just goes deathly quiet no
sellers no buyers and it just takes a
long time for that to sweat through
many of the effects of brexit have yet
to play out but investors are already
circling some developments hoping for
bargains and analysts predict that the
vote to leave the EU will cause a drop
in consumer confidence that will dampen
what had been rapid house price growth
across the market if that does happen
even homes like these could become a
little more affordable Judith Evans
Financial Times London
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