London's Prime Property Market Sees Surge In Demand From Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese Buyers - TGIM Assets

6,905 views | Jul 3, 2020, 10:05am EDT

London’s Prime Property Market Sees
Surge In Demand From Hong Kong and
Mainland Chinese Buyers
             Claire Carponen Contributor
             Real Estate
             I write about UK and European property, covering new listings, market news and interior design trends.

2-8a Rutland Gate in Knightsbridge was bought by a Hong Kong investor for $264 million   BEAUCHAMP ESTATES

London’s prime housing market is seeing strong interest from Hong Kong and mainland
Chinese buyers, with real estate agents reporting above-average levels of investment.

London-based estate agency Beauchamp Estates reports that over the past 6 months it
has sold more than $374 million worth of luxury London residential property to Hong

Kong buyers in prime locations including Knightsbridge, Belgravia, and Islington, in its
new wealth survey.

Purchasers from Hong Kong and mainland China now account for 15% of its international
buyer home sales above $1.2 million and 20% of deals above $12 million across prime
central London–overtaking investors from Russia and India, it says. The data covers the
period between December 2019 and June 2020.

Belgravia Gate development on Grosvenor Crescent, Belgravia   CHRISTIAN SMITH 2012

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These buyers are typically purchasing either new homes or historic properties with newly
refurbished super-luxury interiors, Marcus O’Brien, of Beauchamp Estates Private Office,
says in the report.

The sales include the “landmark” $264 million purchase of 2-8a Rutland Gate–a 45-
bedroom mansion in Knightsbridge– and a 6-bedroom Belgravia Gate penthouse flat in
Belgravia, both of which were bought by Hong Kong billionaires through Beauchamp
Estates.

Increased levels of demand are believed to be driven by on-going political unrest in Hong
Kong, which began last year when China’s parliament announced plans to implement a
new, sweeping national security law.

At the Coda development in London’s Battersea, there has been a significant spike in
deals and enquiries from Hong Kong nationals since plans for the law were announced,
according to its developer Avanton. Of the 130 flats on offer, 35 have sold, 30% of which
were to overseas buyers, with the majority from Hong Kong.

Further investment in London’s prime market is predicted after the British government
announced yesterday it will offer a citizenship path to British National Overseas (BNO)

passport holders in Hong Kong in response to China passing the controversial law two
days ago. There are up to 3 million people who are eligible for U.K. residency.

The roof garden of the Belgravia Gate penthouse   at, which sold for $82 million   BEAUCHAMP ESTATES

Jeremy Gee, of Beauchamp Estates, says that, “10% of the 3 million would qualify as
super-prime or prime purchasers and if 10% of them came to the U.K. then there would
be 30,000 potential buyers in prime central London.”

According to a separate report by London-based real estate agency Aston Chase, Hong
Kong and Chinese interest in London homes had been rising since protests begun in
March 2019 though enquires had waned at the beginning of the year and during the
Covid-19 U.K. lockdown.

Aston Chase says there has been a spike in Hong Kong nationals with existing homes in
London upsizing into substantial family homes. These buyers have traditionally bought
smaller, often new-build properties either to rent or for their children to use while
studying in the U.K., it says.

According to Gee, London has long been a popular location for Hongkongers looking to
both relocate and buy a second home. “Many have family members living here and they
are drawn to its culture and its education system,” he says.

There are now some 218,975 properties in London owned by Chinese and Hong
Kong buyers, with 98,725 owned by Hongkongers and 120,250 by mainland Chinese,
according to researchers at Beauchamp Estates.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
         Claire Carponen

I am a freelance journalist who has twelve years’ experience writing about property for UK national
newspapers and online magazines.
I started my career at The Times of… Read More

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