There were more international buyers in London last year after three years of declines, analysis by debt advisory firm Henry Dannell shows.
Overseas interest in the capital was declining prior to the pandemic, with factors like Brexit and the 3% stamp duty surcharge putting investors off.
This caused international buyer activity to fall from 31,693 property purchases in 2017 to 22,444 by 2020.
However in 2021 transactions from international buyers climbed by 0.6%, while the market value of those purchases also rose by 4.8% to just shy of £11.4bn.
Geoff Garrett, director of Henry Dannell, said: “Having peaked in 2017, a myriad of factors have led to a decline in international buyer interest within the London property market. As a result, both the proportion of transactions and the total market value of homes purchased by foreign buyers has been on the slide.
“However, this tide certainly seems to be turning and the initial green shoots of a recovery across this segment of the market appear to have sprung in 2021. This has undoubtedly been driven by the easing of pandemic travel restrictions and the fact that the political dust has now settled following Brexit.
“We expect this recovery to continue over the coming year and with many foreign buyers already securing financial support within their native countries, often at much higher rates of interest compared to the UK, we don’t foresee increasing interest rates to act as a deterrent to the same degree as it will across the domestic market.”
