Russians to displace Chinese as top foreign investors...

A leading agency handling international investors and buyers says Russians will displace the Chinese as the main purchasers of buy to let units in prime London in 2022.

Beauchamp Estates says the surge for London properties will be accelerated by a flight of capital driven by worries that the escalating Russia-Ukraine border conflict could result in Russia and its elite being hit by economic and financial sanctions driven by the USA.

Beauchamp founder Gary Hersham says: “During 2021 the volume of £15m-plus deals in London’s super-prime housing market doubled, driven by super rich buyers having access to a plentiful supply of preferential-rate interest-only ‘billionaire mortgages’ which has enabled them to borrow at rates below the rate of inflation, essentially borrowing for free.

“Over the last 24 months there have effectively been two to three billionaire buyer property deals per month in Central London which underlines that the capital’s luxury real estate market is the best place in the world for the super rich to store their wealth. Each decade the property asset increases in value, and the buyer has the additional benefit of visiting London for shopping, fine dining, leisure, the arts and entertaining friends and family.”

And Jeremy Gee, Beauchamp managing director, adds: ”The multi-millionaires and billionaires buying trophy houses and penthouses in London are getting younger and have self made wealth. This new generation of super rich buyers, many in their 20s and early 30s, want value-for-money alongside luxury and because they are not postcode snobs are happy to purchase beyond the boundaries of SW1 and W1 which is why during 2021 the super-prime sector witnessed major deals being done in locations such as Whitehall, Baywater, Soho and Notting Hill.

“During 2022 we are likely to see billionaire buyer deals again being done in emerging prime residential addresses, not just in established locations like Belgravia.”