Foreign investors have permission to build nearly two years’ supply of housing in London, according to new research.
Overseas buyers have been criticised for their inflationary impact on the capital’s house prices. But the figures from property advisers CBRE show that in recent years they have become essential to London’s housebuilding.
Developers from just four nations – China, Singapore, Malaysia and Qatar – have permission to build more than 33,000 homes in the capital, and they hold twice as many sites as those being developed by affordable-house builders such as housing associations. Affordable-house builders have themselves stepped up their levels of private housing development in the past decade.