The very top end of London's rental market is booming, thanks to a delay in super-prime purchases brought on by the advent of a Labour government and looming tax changes in its October budget, according to new research.
Beauchamp Estates' Ultra-Prime Lettings Survey shows that in the first six months of 2024, uncertainty over the prospect of a Labour government in the UK, combined with concerns over what might be in store tax-wise in the October budget have led many wealthy people to rent super-prime homes in the capital, rather than buy.
According to Beauchamp Estates, between January and June, 559 homes across prime central London were let for weekly rents ranging from just over £1,000 to £25,000 for a penthouse in Knightsbridge. The numbers mean 23 prime lettings were agreed each week during the period.
“There has been some extremely high-quality stock available on the lettings market and this has attracted serious tenants willing to pay premium rents to secure the properties,” said Gary Hersham, founding director of Beauchamp Estates.
“There has been a rise in wealthy American, Western European and Nigerian tenants coming to London on business secondments.
“The market has also been boosted by the uncertainty generated by the UK General Election, which has led some people looking to buy to decide to pause and rent instead, until they have certainty about the new Labour government’s taxation policies, awaiting the October 30 autumn budget.”
That budget could bring significant changes in stamp duty, the sales tax charged when a property is bought. The amount of stamp duty payable depends on the value of the property. At the moment, properties in the UK sold for more than £1.5 million incur stamp duty at 15 per cent.
However, stamp duty rates are 2 per cent higher for foreign buyers who do not have residency in the UK than for UK residents.
All of this can significantly add to the cost of buying a property. For example, an overseas buyer paying £20 million for a London super-prime property could face stamp duty in excess of £3 million.
High-quality stock
The prime letting deals in central London during the first half of this year generated £19.5 million for landlords and owners, of which £14 million (73 per cent) came from apartment lets and £5.5 million (28 per cent) from houses.
The most expensive house rented in central London during the first six months of 2024, according to the Beauchamp survey, was a mansion in Cadogan Place in Belgravia, which was let for £14,000 a week.
Meanwhile, at £25,000 per week, the most expensive apartment rented out during the same period was a penthouse in the One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge.
“The most sought-after addresses in London with wealthy tenants at present are Chelsea, Kensington, Mayfair, Belgravia, Whitehall, Bayswater and Notting Hill,” said Chris Tinkler, lettings manager at Beauchamp Estates (Mayfair).
“Over the past six months Beauchamp Estates has secured super-prime lettings deals which have generated combined annual rental income of over £12 million, with tenants from America, the Middle East, India, Nigeria and Western Europe.”
Tenants from the Middle East tend to favour Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Kensington, Regent’s Park and St. John’s Wood.
Beauchamp Estates also found that Middle Eastern, American and Indian tenants were more likely to go for either luxury serviced apartments offering five-star hotel-style amenities or large family houses, while European renters like spacious apartments in leafy addresses close to London's parks.
During the first six months of 2024, Beauchamp Estates secured numerous super-prime letting deals, including a mansion in St John’s Wood, which was rented out for two years for more than £4.5 million, and a large house in Hampstead which was let for £1 million a year.
A house in Notting Hill secured a rent of £45,000 a week for six months, a palatial home in Princes Gate was let for £25,000 per week and two apartments in the private residences wing of the famous five-star Corinthia Hotel in Whitehall were rented out at £7,500 and £9,000 per week.
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
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Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
THREE
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No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
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Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 217hp at 5,750rpm
Torque: 300Nm at 1,900rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh130,000
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20Profile
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The biog
Name: Salem Alkarbi
Age: 32
Favourite Al Wasl player: Alexandre Oliveira
First started supporting Al Wasl: 7
Biggest rival: Al Nasr
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
