St. John’s Wood Property Market Has Bucked Experts’ Gloomy Predictions for 2009

London, United Kingdom, March 26, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Richard Woolf, director of Winkworth estate agents on St John’s Wood Terrace has experienced a welcome boost in his business due to this current trend. “We’ve had a flurry of activity agreeing sales with quite a few foreign buyers taking advantage of the strength of the euro and weakness of the pound.

“We’ve also agreed sales with people coming from dollar-income countries like Nigeria and the US.” Mr Woolf estimates there is now as much as a 70-30 per cent split between foreign and British buyers.

The majority of his European customers are already familiar with the British market and are coming from countries such as Germany and Cyprus. Most buy for an investment or for their children to be educated in England.

One of the factors driving the mini-boom, according to Mr Woolf, is the crash in banking. “People who have cash all over the world are earning very little in bank accounts. “London is always seen as a safe haven by foreigners wishing to invest in property, and the recent drop in interest rates means they are getting more for money here then they would if they kept it in their own banks.”

Nathan Galer, manager of Global Realty in Nugent Terrace, St John’s Wood, has also witnessed a sudden growth in foreign house-hunters. He says that many of them are cash buyers attracted by the reduced prices estate agents are now offering. “The banks are not lending money now so you need cash buyers and if someone is a cash buyer they are looking for a bargain.

“The British buyers are coming back slowly but they are very cautious and unless they’re cash buyers we know and they know it’s not a serious enquiry.”

But the upturn in St John’s Wood property has not extended across the rest of London with figures released this month showing average sales have dropped by £50,000 in worst hit areas. Sale price monitor Hometrack said the average London price now stands at £279,000.

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