A massive £18.5 billion of overseas cash has been pumped into London office property in the past three years and the tidal wave of foreign cash will keep flooding in during this year, property experts have said.
Recent mega-deals include City trophies such as the £330 million purchase of Tower Place by Chinese insurer Ping An, the Safra Brazilian banking dynasty’s swoop for the Gherkin and China Life’s £800 million acquisition of Clifford Chance’s 10 Upper Bank Street headquarters at Canary Wharf.
The Docklands headquarters of HSBC also fell to the Qataris for £1.1 billion last year.
Research from CBRE said overseas spending accounted for 70% London office turnover to the end of last year, because of the capital’s safe haven appeal.
Director Jamie Pope said Asian buyers will be the biggest players chasing the latest clutch of famous assets this year, including the Marylebone home of Madame Tussauds — put on the market for £320 million last week.
Pope said: “Demand from overseas investors is set to remain strong in 2015. Macro-economic factors, as well as the deregulation of Chinese and Taiwanese insurers, will continue to have an impact.
“As a result of this liberalisation, 2014 was characterised by a series of high-value deals from the Asian market. This trend is likely to continue, with a number of overseas institutional investors looking to increase their allocation to international markets.”
The agent estimates there is at present £13.5 billion in capital chasing just £2.5 billion of available office stock in London.
