Wealthy Arabs are invading Britain’s real estate market, buying luxury housing in London and elsewhere at prices that apparently few others can afford, according to reports from realty agents here. The latest deal is the two million Pounds Sterling purchase by an unidentified Arab government of Consort Lodge, a block of flats described as the most luxurious in all of Europe, overlooking Regents Park in central London.
The Lodge comprises 14 flats and two penthouses that range in rent from 115-250,000 Sterling. Agents who handled the transaction could not say whether the government involved intends to house its diplomats there or to become landlord to wealthy Britons. The Arabs are said to be constantly on the look-out for good investments for their huge oil revenue surpluses.
Recently, 15 flats costing between 30-50,000 Sterling each at Serbly Court Holland Park, West London, have been sold to an individual Middle East buyer. Two large 100,000 Pound houses in Kensington have been sold to Arabs and two months ago, another Arab buyer completed a deal for a Hampstead house for almost a quarter million Pounds Sterling.
Prince Nawaf, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family just bought a 37-year lease on a house in Knightsbridge for 300,000 Pounds Sterling. Real estate agents say the Arabs are attracted by very competitive prices now being asked for top quality property. They are said to be well advised and tend to name a price which they stick to. They also expect the deals to go through with minimum delay the agents said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
