subject: West London Builders make a killing as Asian cash floods capital [print this page] West London Builders are cleaning up thanks to a massive cash injection from Asian business tycoons who are flooding the city with new cash and boosting the fragile recovery in construction.
Some builders in West London, who work in the more exclusive neighbourhoods, have been doing well while the rest of the construction industry has been suffering.
These West London builders have greatly benefitted from London being viewed as the ideal spot to base a European arm of a multi-national business, or just to set up a household.
West London is already home to a dozen foreign billionaires, including steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and mining guru Anil Aggarwal.
Analysts have warned that all the new cash flooding into the city will inflate the market, squeezing out first time buyers; but you won't hear the builders of West London complaining about that when so many contracts are up for grabs.
Rob Perrins, Chief Executive of Berkeley, whose firm has recorded a 20% increase in sales to foreign buyers, told The Financial Times: "The demand from sophisticated investors, who want to get money offshore and into a stable investment, or want a place for their children to live in when they come here for university, has no match in the domestic market."
Some West London builders have found that the Asian financial stimulus has helped to rejuvenate the refurbishment and restoration sectors of the market as well.
Clinton Foakes who runs a West London Builders or West London Builders west London builders' firm, which operates in the exclusive areas of Kensington and Chelsea and Knightsbridge, said: "We are certainly enjoying the benefit of this new investment, especially at a time when other industries are not doing so well."
"London is a great place to be whatever your walk of life, so I am pleased but not surprised that we have been insulated from the recent downturn." He added.
