Number of London house buyers triples

The number of hunters seeking to buy property in London has increased threefold in the last 12 months, according to figures released by Foxtons.

During January 2007 the number of buyers viewing property via Foxtons hit 60,000, up 40,000 on last year’s level.

Many buyers are responding to a booming London economy that is further garnering the city the status of world capital. Factors such as record bonus payouts from the City and a shortage of new builds coupled with continuing low unemployment and interest rates, which are still very reasonable by historical standards, are keeping demand swelling.

Foxtons Director, Andrew Weir said: “We always see a surge in buyer interest in January, but this year the market has been white hot, with demand at unprecedented levels. We have not seen such high levels of interest in the 25 years that we have been in business.

“The market conditions are strong with demand spread equally across all price ranges and sizes of property, and the amount of stock is actually higher than last year. As we move further into 2007 this huge demand will put further pressure on prices, following the record increases of last year which topped 25% in many areas.

“London’s buoyant economy is embodied by its property market and makes it the international city to live and work. There are no signs of these upward trends abating.”