Central London Estate Agents

I can't remember a gloomier run-up to the festive season. Ebenezer Scrooge himself was a bundle of joy compared to all the financial pundits. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was a picture of misery as he gave his pre-budget statement, and the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility was no more cheerful. Even the BBC's Nick Robinson, normally a jolly sort of chap, looked serious and concerned. The mood was just as downbeat out in the country, with a poll that purports to measure optimism in the property market finding that everyone thinks the value of their house has gone down in the last few months. Except in London. Here in central London, things are very different. Property prices remain stable and vendors who seriously want to sell are doing so very quickly if the price is realistic, but few property owners want to sell because central London property…

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It has been a stressful week for anyone trying to keep a weather eye open for the economic storms that are expected to break in the next few months. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Office of Budgetary Responsibility and the Governor of the Bank of England queued up to make ever more alarming predictions of financial doom. Which makes it so very curious that property prices in the prime central London area are still on the way up. We are witnessing a flight of capital from the countries most at risk of economic meltdown, notably Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland. Many wealthy families from the Eurozone are moving their wealth to shell companies in offshore tax havens, using their corporate status to avoid paying stamp duty on the sale of their very high-end properties (because the corporation remains in ownership of the property, only its shares being transferred, no…

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