Property agent Knight Frank says London is becoming a magnet for foreign commercial property investors in spite of disappointing growth figures for the domestic economy. The company has stated that revenues have grown eight per cent to £334m in the year ended March 31.
Knight Frank is one of the largest partnerships in the United Kingdom, and its 61 partners will have £65.2m in profits to share. This figure is down from last year’s profits of £72.7m because of capital spending on new offices in Australia, Dubai, India, and South Africa.
The company has developed a reputation as a major commercial property agent and is a rival to Savills. Both firms sell luxury homes in the UK. Knight Frank has a number of highlights to report in its last fiscal year, including the sale of Battersea Power Station to a Malaysian business organization for £400m and the fact it is involved in office leasing for the Shard, which is the tallest building in Western Europe.
According to the company, approximately 70 per cent of the retail shops and offices sold in central London in the past 12 months involved foreign buyers. Investment in commercial properties came in at £7.3bn in the first six months of this year and may reach a total of £12bn by the end of 2012.
The news is not all rosy, according to the property agent, though. The implementation of new stamp duty rates in the 2012 budget have meant sales of London properties in the £2m-and-up range are down 20 per cent from the same time last year. Market conditions vary greatly, depending on location and the quality of the property. As economic conditions slowdown in major Asian economies, concerns have been raised that the UK property market will also follow suit.
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