Domestic buyers accounted for 49% of sales across the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, up from 37% in 2011 and 43% in 2012, the report from Hamptons International shows.
But the growth of domestic buyers is not just confined to prime central London and Hamptons International reports that across all its London offices 77% of sales are going to a UK buyer, up from 65% in 2012.
At a time when transactions in prime central London grew by 12% over the course of 2013, the research, which tracks the nationality of every buyer across Hamptons International’s 29 strong London network, reveals international buyer figures stalled in 2013 with just European buyers showing a marginal increase on the previous year.
‘In recent years the prime central London has outperformed anywhere else in the UK. This was driven by an influx of foreign investment in search of safe investments after the global economic crisis,’ said Johnny Morris, head of research at Hamptons International.
‘But as the global economy recovers and other asset and investment classes become less risky, Prime Central London is beginning to look fully priced, cooling interest from international buyers. Coupled with the surge in domestic demand across the capital, the dominance of the international buyer in London is slowly but steadily being eroded,’ he added.
According to Andrew Phillips, head of central London sales at Hamptons, uncertainty about future taxation particularly affecting the prime central London market has deterred international buyers for now. ‘But as long as London remains a global city, its most desirable areas will still attract an international following, for whom owning property in Prime Central London has become a badge of global wealth,’ he explained.
In stark contrast, the lettings market in prime central London has observed almost exactly the reverse, with a steady increase in the proportion of properties let to international tenants steadily growing over the course of 2013. In London, more than half of lets, 55%, went to international tenants.
