LONDON -- London's luxuriousness h...

LONDON -- London's luxuriousness homes are now the greatest in number expensive in the world, skilled hands say, with foreign buyers, salary bonuses and steady interest rates driving prices up in the capital's overheated wealth market.

Prime residential peculiarity in London now costs around $2300 by square foot, compared to $1900 in recently made known York, according to CB Richard Ellis Hamptons International.

"In space of times of time zones and location, London is the greatest in quantity attractive place to be," said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at the Knight Frank real estate agency.

Foreign buyer have a title to 51 percent of the $38 million-plus market in London, Knight Frank research exhibit tos compared to 34 percent of the equivalent market in strange York and 27 percent in Paris.

The mostly expensive homes sold this year -- a $628 million house in Belgrave Square and a former office blockade on Park Lane -- were sold from the Savills real estate agency to buyer from the Middle East.

Foreign buyer like London because of its position as the emerging global financial center and a tough tradition of ease of access and interpret communications, Bailey said.

"Over the past five or 10 years, London has gained a larger share of international financial activity," he said. "And, unlike other European financial center like Frankfurt, buyer are attracted by dint of all the other things the city has to offer"

Russians, other Europeans and Americans already are a capable presence in the London market, and Asian buyer are taking an increasing slice: The dimensions of Asian purchasers has grown 60 percent in the last five years, Bailey said.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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