South African property is waking up, but what is happening in London?

By Scott Picken, 10th Feb 2010

As South African’s moved into 2010, with allot of hope about the year and of course our awesome World Cup, there was definitely a sense of optimism which is prevailing. Scott Picken, IPS CEO says, “We have definitely noticed this trend with a large increase in interest for South African property. The great thing is this is locally and also from the expats in London and other countries!”

So the South African market is starting to recover but what is happening elsewhere. Australia continues to boom, but another market which is recovering strongly is the London market. Although the economic picture is far from certain with the UK being the last country in the G20 to come out of recession and with a poultry growth of 0.1%, the property market is into a full swing recovery. According to all the property indicators the property market reached the trough in March / April of 2009. Since then there has been growth consecutively every month. Click here for the latest reports. It is still roughly down 7% from the peak of February 2008, but it grew 4.2% for the last 12 calendar months.

The market recovery has also been spurred on with investment from areas like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. On a recent trip to London, Scott met with all the top property companies and developers. An example of this was King Sturge who went to Hong Kong in April 2009 and sold 130 units on a weekend. From there, there was significant demand and there were many launches. King Sturge went to the East and had exhibitions on 23 weekends last year and averaged 60 – 80 sales a weekend. The question you would ask is where is the appetite from the East coming? It comes down to 3 major factors. The sterling has weekend 30% in the last 2 years, property is down 30% and banks are more willing to lend to foreigners at the moment as they are willing put down 30% deposits. People in these countries, understand the opportunity when they see it, are long term investors and see London as a great long term investment!

This demand has now transpired into the local markets. Galliard Homes, one of the prime developers in London who IPS strategically partnered with had a exhibition for locals in London this weekend and they sold 130 apartments.

IPS believes South Africans are in a very similar position to those people in the East. Although the South African economy has taken longer to recover, the Rand is strong against the pound and there are great asset value opportunities in London. Outside of London the market is still in trouble, but in London now is certainly the time to be investigating. IPS is proud to announce it has a number of various opportunities from New Developments with great discounts, existing distressed properties and the opportunity to invest in Central London property from as little as £10 000.

We will be holding information sessions around South Africa to explain what is happening in the London market and where the opportunities lie!

If you are considering Offshore Property then this is something you need to understand. We will cover –

• 5 essential things you need to know before you invest offshore.
• 7 fundamental items of London property.

Go to www.ipsinvest.com to book for the events.