Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
High-end real estate developments offer huge potential for investment at the moment, claims a respected international luxury property developer, who believes that investors could do “very, very well indeed” if they successfully ride the ups and downs of real estate markets.
One Hyde Park, London - more than just a place to live? Image courtesy side78 via Flickr.com
Nick Candy, of Candy & Candy, one of the world’s leading interior design and development companies, argued that luxury property developments are increasingly being seen by shrewd investors as “a long-term commitment worth their while”, in an interview with CNCB last week.
Candy & Candy are the firm behind London’s One Hyde Park apartments, which are said to be one of the most expensive residential properties in the world, with penthouse suites costing as much as $215 million.
Candy told CNBC news that luxury property should not just be seen as a wonderful place to live – it should be seen as a wise investment capable of providing huge returns.
“People are making long-term investments these days,” says Candy, who points to world cities such as London as being the best place to look. He argues that there is a constant cycle of overseas investment taking place in such cities:
"London is still a very strong market. In the 1970s and '80s we had Middle Eastern money; in the late 1990s we had Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh money and today we have Indian and Chinese money. There is more international money coming in than ever before."
"London can soak up — from the number of international purchases that are coming in — a lot of supply that is coming onto the market. We have very limited supply because it takes a good five, 10 years to build a good project. Limited supply, huge demand; (that means) prices will continue to increase."
Of the other cities in the world, Candy identifies New York as a market that is still very strong, although he points out that the market is still very “American-centric”, with 80% of luxury apartments in the city being snapped up by home-grown buyers.
Candy also tipped Dubai to bounce back as one of the hottest property markets in the world sooner rather than later. He said that when a market falls as badly as Dubai’s did a few years ago, things are likely to pick up again pretty fast.
