Prime London property market continues to flourish

London has been a favoured destination among property investors for many years now, and new figures released by Chesterton Humberts have shown why.

The organisation confirmed that prime property in London has performed exceptionally well in the 2012/13 winter period, especially when taking the state of the UK's economy into account.

Residential buildings in the most desirable parts of the capital were in high demand in 2012, so much so that they actually outperformed a number of valuable commodities during the year.

Chesterton Humberts' Prime London Residential Index recorded capital value growth of 10.4 per cent over the 12-month period, beating gold (8.3 per cent), the FTSE 100 (5.8 per cent) and oil (2.5 per cent) in the process.

It is headline figures like these that will make real estate investors from all over the world sit up and take notice.

Unsurprisingly, Knightsbridge and Belgravia led the way in terms of price growth, with the average property in this trendy part of London rising by 4.9 per cent, while Islington also did well with house and apartment prices increasing by 2.9 per cent.

Head of research at Chesterton Humberts Nick Barnes is confident that the English capital will attract even more wealthy investors in 2013.

He suggested that availability is key and there are currently plenty of luxurious properties that are waiting to be snapped up.

In fact, the company stated that its pipeline is currently 41 per cent higher than it was during the corresponding period in 2012 and is at its highest level since 2009.

A lot of foreign investors see London as a safe haven at the moment and they are quite happy to purchase properties for their children to stay in while they study at the city's fine universities, knowing full well that they are likely to make a tidy profit when they come to sell in a few years' time.

"Whilst overseas appetite is focused on the traditional prime central areas, there is also demand for quality properties in decentralised locations offering proximity to good local schools and/or easy access into central London," Mr Barnes added.