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Al Noor development,
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Middle Eastern Real Estate Investments In London |
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HOME >> NEWS >> Middle Eastern Real Estate Investments In London |
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 London is set to become the new playground for Middle Eastern wealth, judging by the recent headlines and news clips that made their rounds. Where the nations from the Gulf have long enjoyed London as their summer playground to escape their hot desert sun, new economic developments are fast seeing a massive influx of new investors from Gulf nations.
A recent deal that made headlines in the capital was the sale of an office block in the city to the Kuwaiti Government for £400 million. While this certainly seems like a lot of money to the average person, Kuwaitis are laughing all the way to the bank as rising oil prices and falling property prices are enabling massive opportunities for the nations who actually demand the prices to start with.
With property price slumps of 25%, London is now ripe for the plucking by those who can. And it is exactly those wealthy nations of the Gulf region that have a lot of money to spare.
As the cost of living increases in London, due to the rise of the oil industry and the loss of property values, MIddle Eastern investors are using their estimated $300 billion of oil surplus to buy up London as if there was no tomorrow.
The thing is - they can. They are rich and affluent beyond comprehension.
In the past, they have acquired palatial real estate in such upper class quarters like Mayfair and Belgravia, but these days the city is their oyster. Having been compared to a giant Monopoly board by the online site ThisIsLondon, the cashed up Gulf rulers are making it obvious that nothing is too expensive for them.
Many of these investments are done discreetly under the guise of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF). Fronted by firms, lawyers and banks, these properties could end up being owned by just about any rich Gulf prince or business man.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) is the big daddy fund of SWFs and has combined assets of $875 billion. The fund owns Berkeley Square and this year has already spent £640 million on three blocks in Knightsbridge and the ExCel exhibition centre.
However, it isn’t just the Saudis or Abu Dhabi nationals that operate on a higher level, the Qataris are in fact the most adventurous and aggressive buyers. Songbird who owns £6.2 billion worth of offices in Canary Wharf is owned by 14 % by the Qataris.
One of London’s most high-profile skyscraper projects, the “Shard of Glass” development secured finance of $3.88 billion from a consortium of Qatari companies.
A new force to be reckoned with are the Russians who have massive oil revenues and are getting more and more involved with property investment throughout Europe. The Russians are also low key buyers, trying to stay in the shadows but every now and then a deal surfaces in local papers to show Londoners that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with.
Source: http://www.overseaspropertymall.com/ |
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