If you're the sort of person with a billion in the bank and would never - simply never - spend less than £10m on a piece of property, then London is your favourite place for a plush European pad. As the Guardian's Hilary Osborne reported on Monday:
Research found that 67 billionaires were living in the city, making it the most popular of western Europe's capitals with the ultra-wealthy, ahead of Paris with 25 and Geneva with 18.
The "platinum triangle" formed by Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia is their favourite spot according to Beauchamp Estates, though they might lower themselves to something cheaper in Chelsea if it's for a servant. How marvellous, eh Boris?
But much of this fat money belongs to international buyers and, according to Hamptons International, they're going off London a bit. The company's head of research says:
As the global economy recovers and other asset and investment classes become less risky, prime central London is beginning to look fully priced, cooling interest from international buyers. Coupled with the surge in domestic demand across the capital, the dominance of the international buyer in London is slowly but steadily being eroded.
This news is brought to us by Bloomberg's real estate man Patrick Gower, who also reports the Hamptons finding that UK buyers accounted for nearly half of property sales in wealthy Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea in 2013, a rise from 43% the previous year. Across all 29 of the company's London offices 77% were UK buyers, up from 65% in 2012.
How happy should this make us? Even if, like me, you've always been wary of blaming super rich foreigners for all the capital's housing woes, there is some comfort in the view that "prime" London is starting to look "fully priced". And yet it would appear that there's lots of loot from UK sources filling the gap. Meanwhile, as Hilary Osborne tells us today, the Nationwide has found that the average price of a London home has increased by 18% in the past twelve months and by 5.3% in just the last three. Problem solved, then...