PERFECT HOMES MAGAZINE ( Editor Stan Israel) by Stan Israel | Page 258

L
ONDON

While most of Europe has remained in the
doldrums since the onset of the global
recession, the big international property story of
the year has been the UK. London in particular
has drawn buyers from around the world and
looks set to continuing doing so.
Case in point: May 2014 saw Reuters announce
that a penthouse at the prestigious One Hyde
Park in London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood
had sold for $237 million, setting a new world
record for the priciest apartment sale ever. (In
2011, Ukraine’s richest man, billionaire Rinat
Ahkmetov, paid $221 million for a penthouse
in the same development. At the time, that was
the most expensive apartment sale ever.)
House prices in London rose 9.4% in the year to
September 2013 and according to Rightmove

jumped a staggering 10.2% from September
to October 2013– the biggest monthly increase
since 2002. With the London property market
predicted to rise by 24.4% (Savills) over the
next 4 years, cash strapped Londoners are
now looking further afield.
Key areas where house prices are expected to rise
are Maidenhead, Taplow and Burnham outside
London and Ealing Broadway, Farringdon and
Paddington in central London. With the arrival
of the new upcoming Crossrail, Crossrail 2 and
Northern Line & Thameslink extensions set
to create fast connections from as far afield
as Reading and Heathrow to Gravesend in
the East.
The improvement in the economic outlook, low
interest rates and a chronic shortage of real
estate is set to continue to push prices up over
the next few years. Expect rises of between 4
and 7% across the UK as a whole during 2014.

Maidenhead