Love of London is not a blip

By Andrew Batt -

Thai property buyers and investors’ love of London property and real estate investments, as witnessed by two separate London property exhibitions in Bangkok during the last two weekends, is not a blip and is certainly an increasing trend.

Yesterday, Dot Property Group reported strong interest from Thais in two London waterfront developments that were the subject of a Knight Frank and Berkeley Homes showcase in Bangkok.

Tim Skevington, Managing Director of real estate firm Landscope Thailand, speaking exclusively to Dot Property Group, confirmed his company has been making sales of property throughout the United Kingdom property to Thai buyers for a while.

He said: “We have confirmed a pre-launch sale at Television Centre in London which will be formally released in September. The buyer is interested to secure a base for her children who will study in the U.K., and appreciated the re-development plans for the area and good potential for capital growth.”

He added that this particular London development has generated considerable interest during its pre-launch phase, and added that his client was delighted with the opportunity to ‘get in early’.

“We have also recently sold 12 investment units in a small development in Manchester called Pembroke Court. This project is offering a guaranteed 6 percent yield for five years, and buyers can also obtain a 70 percent loan for their investment.”

Skevington added: “We have several other interesting U.K. developments launching now, including Marine Wharf East nearby Canary Wharf by Galliard Homes, and 2 Moorfields in Liverpool which offers a guaranteed 6 percent yield for five years, and an entry price of £130,000.”

This, he said, is a very similar price to a one-bedroom condominium in some parts of Bangkok, and comes with excellent prospects for capital growth.

“In addition to stable yields and good capital growth prospects, we are finding an important selling point with Thai buyers is that U.K. property is much easier to re-sell than similar property in Thailand as there is considerable relative undersupply in the U.K..

His company is planning a series of seminars on all aspects of buying property in London for Thai buyers.

  • Julian

    I think a lot of smart Asian investors know the central London market is already seriously over valued, prices in prime central London are off over 20% especially over £2M.

    Prices have simply become too expensive, there are endless riverside blocks going up, and bubbles have formed particularly on the south side of the Thames along Vauxhall/Battersea.

    Developers are scouring the World looking for unsophisticated investors that are not aware of how over priced the market is. stamp duty increases above 1.5% are substantive and have killed the market.

    The supply of apartments coming on the market over the next 6-36 months is huge and there are very few buyers. Interest rate cycle kicks in next year, the era of cheap money is over.

    You only have to look at how many unsold apartments there on rightmove etc in SW8 riverside, thousands, many with price reductions.

    Foreign buyers should conduct their own due diligence.