International demand for property in London has helped to increase real estate values in the city, it has been claimed. Property consultancy Savills has claimed that London has experienced six quarters of consecutive growth.
In the last quarter, there was a shift in the profile of overseas demand with increased activity from Middle Easterners and Russians buying homes.
Savills noted that low sterling exchange rates since 2008 have attracted all buyer types into the market. The average price of transactions in the first quarter of 2011 rose from GBP 3 million in 2010 to around GBP 5 million, with houses significantly outperforming flats.
Yolande Barnes, head of Savills research, commented: "The level of price growth seen in the first quarter was unexpected and our forecast for 2011 of one per cent price falls across prime central London now looks bearish."
The property consultant's research follows the latest index released by Knight Frank which revealed that globally house prices increased by 2.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2010.