Property
So you’re thinking of owning property in the following bmi destinations? We present a few facts and fi gures to assess the investment potential. Words: Emma Mahony Moscow Population: 10.4 million In 2007 Moscow was named the world’s most expensive city for the second year running, with Russia’s super-rich feeding the boom, and – property-wise – the middle classes weighing in, having bought their homes for a modest price in [...]
So you’re thinking of owning property in the following bmi destinations?
We present a few facts and fi gures to assess the investment potential.
Words: Emma Mahony
Moscow
Population: 10.4 million
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In 2007 Moscow was
named the world’s most
expensive city for the
second year running,
with Russia’s super-rich
feeding the boom, and
– property-wise – the
middle classes weighing
in, having bought their
homes for a modest
price in the Yeltsin
right-to-buy era.
Property prices have
tripled in two years. In
June 2007 around £200 a sq ft was average, but values in the best areas – for
example, Old Arbat – were reaching £3,000 a sq ft, exceeding the rate that
even Roman Abramovich paid for his mansion in London’s Eaton Square.
British architect Lord (Norman) Foster is helping to reinvent the district of
Zaryadye, where the Soviet-era Rossiya Hotel has been knocked down to make
way for a 13-acre complex. Many expat Brits are getting in on the action.
Price of 1-bed and 3-bed apartment: £1-2m and £3m
Agent: Knight Frank Russia, +7 (0)495 981 0000; www.knightfrank.ru
Manchester
Population: 2.2 million in Greater
Manchester Area
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The second largest urban area in the UK saw an acceleration in house price growth
during the last three months of 2007, not in keeping with the rest of
the country where prices fell on average by 0.5%.
For investors,
according to the
Association of
Residential Letting
Agents, national tenant
demand is at its highest level in fi ve years, while house prices have risen
twice as quickly as earnings since 1990, leaving mortgage costs in mid
2007 at 32.5% of fi rst-time buyers’ household income.
All the developments within the core of the city are still doing well,
especially residential skyscrapers such as the Great Northern Tower, the
Beetham Tower, The Edge and Islington Wharf.
Price of 1-bed apartment and 3-bed apartment/house: £150K and £300K
Agent: ISIS at Islington Wharf, +44 (0)8701 622 522; www.islingtonwharf.co.uk
Cologne (Köln)
Population: 2.1 million in business area
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Property investors in Germany should be
aware that it is very different to the UK’s
buy-to-let market. It is not a market for
short-term speculators, and despite
widespread perception that Germany
offers rich pickings at the moment, the
tax regime and tenancy laws means that
only the patient investor wins out.
That said, those who are prepared to buy
in the cathedral city of Cologne, Germany’s
fourth largest city and its leading place for
the media sector, will achieve one of the
highest rents in Germany (€190 per sq m).
Many new projects, such as the former
docklands area currently being developed
into 235,000 sq m of apartments, offi ces
and restaurants, are popular in this lively,
vibrant city.
Price of 1-bed apartment and 3-bed
apartment/house: £180K and £350K.
Agent: Knight Knox International,
+44 (0)161 727 1327; www.knightknox.com
