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‘Cameron bounce’ drives up property prices in London
20 Oct 2009
A strong “Cameron bounce” is driving up property prices in central London as wealthy foreign buyers bank on a Conservative victory in next year's general election.
Agents say they are seeing remarkable monthly surges in demand this autumn in areas favoured by international business chiefs and financiers.
Buyer enquiries jumped markedly during the party conference season due to growing confidence that Gordon Brown's administration is losing its grip on power, agents say.
Prices in the most sought after central London neighbourhoods rose 2.45 per cent in September, the fastest rate for 18 months according to property website Primelocation.
The biggest increases were recorded in Westminster and Pimlico (4.8 per cent), Mayfair (3.8 per cent) and Marylebone and Fitzrovia (3.4 per cent.)
The average prime central London property now costs £1.33 million, up more than 8 per cent on a year ago.
Many Europeans have been attracted to London property by the weakness of the pound, there are now growing signs that they are followed by the wealthy from the Middle East and Far East.
In the £1 to £3 million bracket, international buyers are also competing with City bankers anticipating big increases in bonuses this year, she added.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders said gross lending by banks and building societies rose 2 per cent in August.
However, the Government had to borrow £14.8 billion in September, the highest ever recorded for the month, to keep front line services going.
Government debt now stands at £824.8 billion. But Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, today claimed London is proving “extraordinarily resilient” to the recession.
She was due to say in a lecture at Goldsmiths College tonight that unemployment was not rising as fast as feared, retail sales remained strong and there is greater confidence among businesses.
She was due to stress the importance of the 2012 Games in creating a new economic hub in east London to “balance” the economy and put an end to the “two Londons” — the one of deprivation and unemployment and the one of wealth.
Reader views (11)
The only "bounce" I'm looking forward to is the big one - with Brown and his crew of halfwits, charlatans and chancers being bounced clean out of power for a quarter century.
- Ted, London, 21/10/2009 09:49
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Nice to see Val, the Labour party's Spanish Spokesman back online, impartial and unbiassed as ever.
It almost certainly is a dead cat bounce, and the final slump will come next Spring just as Brown tries to con us into voting for another disastrous 13 years - remember Labour's jobes about 13 years of Tory misrule!! The boot's on the other foot this time dear Val.
I shall be astonished if the economy does recover significantly, and if Labour win, and if London does remain the world financial centre in 5 years' time.
Meanwhile, why do you care - you have long since emigrated!!
- Mikey, Guildford, 20/10/2009 19:20
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Gordon Brown has given the low pound, and high bonuses already ... they're all the same. The system is bigger and stronger than anyone party let alone anyone man .. look at Obama
- Burny Cutts, London, 20/10/2009 17:55
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The super rich are just waiting for Dave and George to take over. They've promised an age of austerity for the British People but the rich minority are assuming that they won't be sharing our pain. Can anybody save us from the return of the Mummy's Policies?
- D Dare, Kenton England, 20/10/2009 17:43
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#Malcolm
Dream on, Malcolm. You are deluding yourself if you think Cameron is going to swing it. He should be streets ahead by now but people are seeing him and his party for what and who they are. Time for a change is the clarion call from the Tories. Some change when all they can do is re-cycle failed leaders like Hague, Howard, Duncan-Smith and Major to prop up their no-mark cabinet, and failed would be leader, Lord Heseltine, Mrs Thatcher's assassin. Anyone who saw Ken Clarke's 'performance' in the House yesterday would have seen how bereft of talent the Conservatives are.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain, 20/10/2009 17:33
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Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain
That's right Val, you keep those 'rose-tinted' sunglasses on. Those of us actually here in the UK are not quite as blind as you obviously are!!
- Malcolm, London, 20/10/2009 16:58
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There is no Cameron bounce. This has to be a joke.
- Keith Price, Luton England, 20/10/2009 16:34
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Yes after the next election, it will be boom time for the rich again.
You taxpayers need not fear anything; except increased taxes, but that is normal for you lot, so look forward to the big boom, and massive house price inceases.
- Mickinlondon, london, 20/10/2009 16:31
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I don't think this is anything to do with David Cameron. If there was ever a bounce it was a dead cat bounce. The latest poll shows the Conservatives have slipped 4 points against Labour following the party conferences. This is just more evidence of the recovering economy and a general rise in house prices. London prices are always higher than in the rest of the country. I think it highly unlikely that foreign buyers are just buying into London in the hope of a Conservative government. They will buy here because London is the world financial centre.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain, 20/10/2009 15:56
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he's not in yet, and having just announced all female candidates for every remaining seat, he has officially turned the conservatives into the looney party. it is not democractic, meritocratic or fair.
i just cannot believe it..
- James, london, 20/10/2009 15:26
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The gap between rich and poor is more bigger now than when the days of oliver twist was written.
- Martin, sheffield, 20/10/2009 14:55
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