I went on a Woolwich Arsenal site visit organised by one of London’s largest developers, Berkeley Homes last week. This visit and site tour was organised by a department within Berkeley called the “Sustainability” department, to ensure local key government stakeholders including Councillors, Architects and Housing Association members were engaged during the development process. The tour started off at 5pm in the evening aboard a specially chartered Thames Clipper departing from Westminister Pier.
One of the most frequent questions I get from Asia-based investors is what areas are the best to buy in London right now.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when Londoners think of Chelsea? Most Londoners tend to associate Chelsea with the rich and famous, and later as an afterthought as the home of the Chelsea Football Club.
While the Royal Docks certainly faces its share of challenges (as outlined in my earlier blog post, ‘Part 1: Can the Royal Docks Regeneration Area Ever Recover From Its Bleak Past?’), there are many promising signs to indicate that this part of South East London is well on its way to becoming one of London’s must-visit places, and could even become the top choice for many Londoners as a place to live. In this post, I outline the transformation of the area, which has attracted strong investment interest into what could well become London’s most sought-after address.
I visited the VNEB (Vauxhall, Nine Elms and the Battersea) regeneration area for the first time last week, to see firsthand for myself the buzz surrounding what has been hailed as the biggest ever regeneration project in the UK. Despite the many years it would take for transport links and amenities to be put in place, property prices here were already going for a hefty price tag of more than £1,000 psf.
In ‘Part 1: Can The Royal Docks Recover From Its Bleak Past’, I take a look at the challenges the Royal Docks are currently facing, and issues overseas investors should consider before putting their money into property in this area.
For the last few years, Asian investors have been buying off-plan London properties at weekend exhibitions. But given that the sales agents at these exhibitions agents are often paid their commissions directly by the developers, and hence have strong personal interest in closing the sale, could this represent a conflict of interest?
All over the main section of the newspapers during most weekends are flashy advertisements for the latest London property launches held in luxury hotel function rooms in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
