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London property investments to hit £620b by 2030

Dubai - London is increasingly becoming a service dependent society with the luxury consumer evolving to demand a product that goes beyond bricks and mortar and extends to lifestyle.

London will remain as the top global city for property investment for the next 15 years, according to a real estate developer.
The city will record investments of more than £620 billion in commercial and residential property and infrastructure over the next 15 years, more than any other major city in the world, said London-based property developer Northacre.
It expects 700,000 new homes will be built on 13,000 acres, worth £300 billion at today's prices; and 70 million square feet of new office space will be built to cater for 460,000 new jobs that forecasters say will be created in the UK capital by 2030, worth £70 billion at today's prices.
According to Britain's Office of National Statistics, the total number of service jobs increased from 2.6 million in March 1996 to four million in June 2015, an increase of 53.8 per cent. 
London is increasingly becoming a service dependent society with the luxury consumer evolving to demand a product that goes beyond bricks and mortar and extends to lifestyle. As the first company in London to include leisure facilities within a residential scheme, this is familiar territory for Northacre and its latest development No.1 Palace Street will offer more than 10,000sqft of leisure facilities for just 72 apartments, including a 6,500sqft 'haven of wellbeing'.
The UK government's official projections indicate that the population of London will rise from around 8.5 million today to 10 million by 2030. To keep up with this level of demand, Arcadis estimate that 900,000 new homes will be needed by 2030 but only 700,000 will be completed. Oxford Economics has tried to quantify this, predicting that the continued gap between demand and supply will more than double the price of the average home in London.
In the first nine months of 2015, excluding new developments, £2.5 billion was spent on buying homes worth over £5 million in London; a 50 per cent increase on the same period five years ago . The recent rise in transaction charges have had limited impact on the market, with most buyers recognising that they have moved in line with most global cities. This upward pressure on prices, as well as an increasing demand for homes, is likely to result in strong demand in the luxury housing market.
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro, CEO of Northacre, said: "International interest in London property investment remains strong and London remains the leading city globally within which to live.
"London leads the way in luxury property development and, having been at the forefront of the industry for the last 25 years, we are proud that our latest project, No.1 Palace Street will set a new standard for what buyers demand from a luxury home."
- abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com