OVERSEAS BUYERS DOMINATE LONDON MARKET

Seven out of ten buyers of central London homes priced at GBP5 million or more come from overseas estate agency, Knight Frank, reveals. Russians, Americans and Italians are the three biggest groups of overseas buyers.

With the Pound down by 28 per cent against US Dollar-pegged currencies since March 2008, London property prices are still relatively cheap for Saudis, Emiraties, Hong Kongers and others, despite a revival in the British capital's housing market over the past year.

With the Pound down against a range of other currencies, including the Euro, buyers from 51 countries have piled in to central London this year. New arrivals include Chinese and Vietnamese.

Demand for multi-million pound homes at new developments like The Lancasters, in Bayswater, and One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, are dominated by foreign buyers. New apartment blocks around Canary Wharf, including Pan Peninsula, are popular with investors from the Far East.

Even in suburban districts, like Richmond, 40 per cent of buyers of homes valued GBP2 million or more, come from overseas.

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MANHATTAN PROPERTY MARKET UP

The United States housing market has taken a tumble since Tax Credits on home purchases were withdrawn in April, but Manhattan's luxury homes market is enjoying a boom.

Prices for Manhattan homes valued at USD2 million or more are rising, because Wall Street bonuses and earnings are on the up, Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers reveal. In any case, buyers of luxury homes don't need tax credits, so its withdrawal is relatively unimportant.

But don't get too excited, Manhattan's luxury homes market is not problem-free. Overpricing of new build homes means the stock of these properties is equivalent to seven years of expected take up Miller Samuel reports. Another negative, mortgages remain scarce.

Meanwhile the rest of the US housing market is on course for a double dip in prices following the withdrawal of tax credits. Prices will drop 5 per cent nationally in 2010, consultancy, Capital Economics, forecasts.

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HONG KONG'S EXPENSIVE HOMES

Hong Kong has the most expensive street on the planet. A Financial News survey found that Severn Road in Hong Kong's most salubrious district, The Peak, has the world's most priciest homes, averaging USD70,000 per square meter, a whopping 74 per cent rise on this time last year.

The Hong Kong address has knocked last year's top location, Monaco's Avenue Princesse Grace, down into fourth place. Homes cost USD64,000 per square meter on the Monaco street, half what they were twelve months ago.

The principality is one of the biggest victims of a downturn in the international market for billionaire homes - values have dropped 15 per cent globally. Exceptions to the rule have been London and New York where prices have risen 15 per cent. This has helped London's Kensington Gardens and New York's Fifth Avenue move into joint second place with sales prices on both streets averaging USD65,000 per square meter.

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