Liz Fletcher

LONDON BUILDERS CLEAN UP AS ASIAN SUPER-RICH INJECT NEW CASH INTO CAPITAL

Builders in London are increasingly targeting wealthy Indian and Chinese nationals for contracts as a weak pound and the downward spiral in the buy-to-let market persist.

Cash from the emerging economies of Asia has been flooding in to the capital, keeping many London builders busy at a time when some firms might have otherwise gone under.

Builders have benefitted from foreign billionaires, who want to tap into the lucrative European markets, consistently favouring London as a location to base their businesses.

The international super-rich also increasingly see a London residence as an essential piece of their bulging property portfolios.

London is already home to eleven foreign billionaires, including steel entrepreneur Lakshmi Mittal and mining tycoon Anil Aggarwal.

The influx of new money means the housing market in London is being artificially inflated according to some analysts, certainly to the detriment of local would-be buyers; although in a fragile economic recovery the investment is undoubtedly welcome to London builders.

London building firm Berkeley Group recently reported a 20% increase in the number of its new homes being sold to international buyers.

Rob Perrins, Chief Executive of Berkeley, told The Financial Times: "The demand from sophisticated investors, who want to get money offshore and into a stable investment, or want a place for their children to live in when they come here for university, has no match in the domestic market."

Similarly, some builders in the London area have found that the Asian cash injection has helped to rejuvenate the restoration, refurbishment and alteration end of the market too.

Clinton Foakes who runs a west London building firm, which operates in the exclusive areas of Kensington and Chelsea and Knightsbridge, said: “We are certainly enjoying the benefit of this new investment, especially at a time when other industries are not doing so well.”

Check out West London Builders- Clinton Foakes Building & Development !

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