Rich foreign buyers could be a lifeline if you’re trying to sell - but you have to know how to target them
Struggling to sell your London home? Don’t want to drop your asking price any further? Fearful of negative equity? There may be a solution if you look beyond your own front door – and, indeed, your own country – and target foreign buyers.
To many overseas investors, London property is looking pretty cheap right now, and while home-grown house-hunters may be waiting for the credit squeeze to ease, there are buyers from Russia and the Middle East – as well as Americans, including Paris Hilton – who are looking to invest in the London housing market. There are also plenty of continental buyers keen to cash in on the strong euro and snap up a pied-à-terre in the capital.
“Middle Eastern buyers are increasingly looking for a deal,” says Phil Spencer, the Sunday Times columnist, Channel 4 presenter, and head of Garrington Home Finders, which is considering opening an office in Dubai to meet demand from property-seekers in the Middle East.
“It actually doesn’t matter what the property costs – it is very much part of their culture to haggle, so they just want to see a price reduction,” he says. “Owning a property in London will always have status value, and, long-term, it is still the safest place you can put your money.”
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Spencer, who has a steady stream of Russian and American clients, has also seen growing numbers of wealthy Indians looking to invest in property, and expects to see the Chinese follow soon.
So, how can you best market your home to an overseas buyer? After all, there’s got to be more to it than conforming to outdated national stereotypes such as gold taps, acres of marble and sunken baths for the Arabs, bling for the Russians, lateral, apartment-style living for the Americans, and somewhere near a good patisserie for the French.
Robert Bailey, who specialises in finding homes for wealthy investors, has some basic advice. “Finishes really are important, whatever the property,” he says. “I would focus on good-quality bathrooms and kitchens.” Wherever they are from, and wherever they are looking, Bailey adds, the super-rich have some basic, specific needs. “State-of-the-art heating and lighting are musts. Good facilities are essential: they want to be able to park their Rolls-Royce Phantom in the underground car park, then head up a few floors to the gym. They want their home to be more like a hotel. Security is also terribly important.”
The clincher, however, is location. Over the years, different parts of the capital have become popular with different nationalities, with enclaves forming and reinforcing areas’ identities. At the top of many Russians’ wish lists, for example, are homes in Mayfair, Bel-gravia and Chelsea, although Hamp-stead, St John’s Wood and parts of Holland Park will suffice.
At a push, they will buy outside London, within an hour’s drive (by chauffeur). A perennial favourite is St George’s Hill, a gated estate in Wey-bridge, Surrey, with tight security.
“Typically, Russian buyers are looking for investment opportunities, so they want to buy only in the best areas,” says Grace Margolies, head of Savills’ Russian desk, based in Mayfair. “It often won’t be their main home, so they want something they can lock up and leave, with 24-hour porters – and nothing on the ground floor.”
Margolies, however, says that she markets properties costing from £400,000 to many millions, depending on the type of buyer – some are older investors, others the younger, trendier Russians about town. And she says that the days of super-bling are pretty much over, with many Russians now preferring sleek, modern, high-spec decor. “They don’t want to deal with builders and interior designers, however, so they’ll choose high-tech, high-quality and ready to go.” If sellers really want to splash out, then pools, hot tubs, cinema rooms and unique, creative design all go down well.
No 15 Culross Street, a classic Mayfair property just off Park Lane, is expected to be snapped up by a Russian. Renovated to create a light-flooded double-height atrium, it has four bedrooms, cream walls, lots of walnut and glass – and no outside space to maintain. It’s on the market for £9.85m. A perfect pied-à-terre for Roman Abramovich’s girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, perhaps?
Knightsbridge, in west London, is still a favourite with Middle Eastern buyers – who, according to Jonathan Hewlett, London director for Savills, are looking for volume and scale. That doesn’t mean you should rush to install miles of ruched curtains and shag-pile carpets, though: such OTT tastes are on their way out.
Grade II-listed No 33 Ovington Square, for example, is certainly big, with 7,165sq ft of living space, but it has been renovated and redecorated by the developer Richard Moore to cater for the needs of the modern Middle Eastern buyer. On the market for £19.5m, it has seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and a lift to take the owner to the gym and sauna in the basement, as well as a staff flat. The colour scheme is cream and ochre, however, with lots of pale wood and clean lines, and again there’s no garden, just a patio.
If you don’t fancy your chances of flogging your home to a sheikh, then don’t despair. There are other pockets of émigrés all over London, many of whom, unlike the Middle Eastern and Russian part-timers, are looking for family homes.
In this market, schools, embassies and multinational companies can affect who lives where just as much as fancy decor. Americans and Europeans tend to love period housing and quaint garden squares, as well as gardens.
Let the seller beware, however: “Our American counterparts are very demanding,” warns Simon Buhl Davis, head of Savills’ interior-design service, which was set up last year to upgrade properties to appeal to overseas buyers as well as Britons.
Traditionally keen on St John’s Wood, in northwest London – site of the American School – they have a reputation for being fussy. “They want lots of space and are obsessed with easy storage,” he says. “They don’t want to have to bend down to reach things. And they insist on walnut dovetailed walk-in wardrobes.” With the planned move of the American embassy to Nine Elms, in south London, those hoping to sell up in Wandsworth might want to brush up on their carpentry skills and add a walk-in wardrobe to secure a sale.
Flats in South Kensington and Fulham, as well as houses in Clapham, southwest London, are popular with French families thanks to branches of the Lycée, the French school network. “French expats centre themselves on these places,” says the property-finder and estate agent Lorraine Campbell (www.lorrainecampbell.com). “They like everything on their doorstep, and walk everywhere. They are looking for plenty of space – each child has to have a good-sized bedroom – and neutral decoration. And Frenchmen will eat in a kitchen these days.”
Gallic communities are extremely strong in these areas, setting up a whole range of services – women organise sewing and cooking classes, and there are French dentists on hand, along with, of course, essentials such as proper lingerie shops and a decent croissant.
Simon Corringham, director of Faron Sutaria, which has branches in west and central London, has been targeting the euro-rich Germans and Italians in Fulham. “Four-bedroom houses go for between £850,000 and £1.2m in SW6,” he says. “We introduce French families to each other.” Five-bedroom houses on Hazlebury Road, near L’Ecole des Petits, are popular: “The nanny can walk the children down the road.”
Corringham’s other clients have included German rock singers, and Italians after pieds-à-terre. “They can’t stand hotels, and are looking for comfy, spacious flats near the Tube,” he says. “We’ve had cash buyers spending about £500,000 in the area.”
Nor are overseas buyers confining themselves to central London. “As they get to know the country, they are increasingly happy to look further out,” says Crispin Holborow, head of the country-house department at Savills, who recently sold a £4m Cornish house to a client from eastern Europe. “They like the coast and the woods and the countryside,” he says. “One or two are even moving to Scotland.”
“People from overseas are buying life-styles,” Buhl Davis says. “Your property has to look the part and be immaculate. Selling successfully is a battle plan.”
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