Indians will buy up half of London by 2017
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 23 July 2008, 16:27 IST
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London: Indian globe-trotters may buy half of London by 2017. According to the estimates of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), a global real estate company, Indians could spend as much as Rs 128,000 crore (15 billion pounds) on residential property in the UK, especially in London in the next decade, reported The Times of India. The research says that 1.9 million Indian households are expected to have wealth above $500,000 in the next 10 years, giving globally engaged Indians the money to buy property overseas. According to experts, the research from JLLM could be taken as an authoritative indicator of trends in the increasingly volatile international property market. The property companies in metropolises like London are betting on the Indians' growing spending power and heightened engagement with the world, not least through an overseas education. The research points out that London is increasingly becoming the international higher educational hub and the number of Indian students studying there has quadrupled since 2005 to nearly 20,000. It predicts that this trend can only continue, given an increased thrust towards collaborative programs between Indian and London universities. JLLM's report has made it the ideal time for other real estate companies to tap into the opportunities in the Indian market, by bringing the product directly to them. On Monday, British property company, The Berkeley Group said it was soon to launch two of its most exciting new developments at exhibitions in Mumbai and Delhi next month. Paul Vallone of Berkeley Group, which has an annual turnover of more than one billion pounds, said, "As the Asian middle class grows, more of them are looking abroad for sound investment opportunities. Parents choose an apartment that they can pass on to their children when they go to university, while business travellers will often buy a 'lock up and leave' flat that they can use during regular trips to London". The perceived level of Indian purchasing power can be assessed from the starting prices of 235,000 pounds (Rs 2.006 crore) and 399,950 pounds (Rs 3.424 crore) quoted for The Berkeley Group's India launch of two developments barely three weeks from now. JLLM is the Indian wing of the multi-national property management firm named by Fortune and Forbes magazines as one of the world's 100 and 400 best big companies.

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