UAE Business: Mideast investors buying London properties on the rise – Gulf Digital News

UAE Business: Mideast investors buying London properties on the rise – Gulf Digital News

Investors from the Middle East purchasing property in prime central London hit a four-year high during the second half of 2022, according to global property consultancy Knight Frank.

As a percentage of all property transactions in London’s most prestigious postcodes, buyers from the Middle East made up 10.9% in the second half of last year, stated the expert in its latest research.

The last time buyers from the region comprised a higher proportion of sales in PCL was in 2015, it added.

As per Knight Frank’s data, their recent dominance in the London market ranks buyers from the Middle East third, behind European and UK buyers.

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: "The combination of more relaxed rules around international travel and the weak pound means that interest in London property from the Middle East picked up over last year."

"Compared to some parts of the world, buyers from the Middle East have been relatively free to travel to London and take advantage of the weak pound, which has resulted in discounts of more than 40% compared to 2014 when price and currency movements are combined. The long-term appeal of London appears undiminished by the pandemic," he added.

During the first