Mayfair: London's Prestigious Neighbourhood - Direct Property Group Hong Kong

Oct. 3, 2013 - PRLog -- Prime Central London comprises some of the world’s most iconic neighbourhoods, including Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Chelsea and Kensington.

However arguably its most famous neighbourhood is Mayfair and Direct Property Group are now selling Mayfair Real Estate to Hong Kong buyers.

The Grosvenor family has owned 100 acres of Mayfair since 1677, and over the next 100 years most of the Mayfair area was developed as a fashionable residential district attracting wealthy, aristocratic families who lived in magnificent mansion houses.

Mayfair’s heyday is often considered to be the early Twentieth Century. Sotheby’s had moved to its famous New Bond Street salesroom in 1917, Savile Row had become the tailoring capital of the world, and the area was home to some of the best hotels on the planet, including Claridge’s and the Connaught.

It would have come as no surprise that when Waddingtons launched Monopoly in the mid-1930s, Mayfair was the most expensive property on the board.

From Residential to Commercial...

The beginning of the commercialisation of residential Mayfair started in the 30’s when property developers pulled down the grand mansions and replaced them with hotels and mansion flats.

The process accelerated after the Second World War left much of the City of London bomb-damaged and many of Mayfair’s remaining stately mansions and Georgian townhouses were redeveloped into offices on “temporary office permits”.

This began the transformation of Mayfair into its current mixed use form and the district reinvented itself as London’s – and one the world’s – most prestigious commercial districts.

… and back to Residential again.

Most of the office permits have now ended, and as demand for Prime Central London real estate has increased, Mayfair is reverting to the most prestigious and desirable of prime residential addresses.

Luxury homes in Mayfair can fetch at least a third more than office space on the market now, which is why developers have been incentivised to transform commercial space back into residential space.

Since the 1990’s, some 250 former office buildings in Mayfair, many of which are classified as grade II listed heritage, have been converted back into homes - and the pace of this transformation is accelerating.

Is there still value to be had?

Whilst Mayfair might have the most expensive houses on the Monopoly board, in the real world it has yet to match the exorbitant prices of other prime neighbourhoods.

Current prices in Mayfair average £2,000 (HK$24,000) per sq ft, which for prospective buyers compares favourably with average prices in Belgravia, Knightsbridge and indeed Hong Kong.

The best value to be had lies in the smaller apartments which benefit from high demand from both investors and end-users.

If you’re lucky enough to find one, you can buy a 500 sqft one-bedroom flat for under a million pounds (HK$12,000,000), the same price you would pay for a comparably sized apartment in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels.

The sub-£1 million market is highly competitive with strong demand from locals and overseas buyers alike wanting to capitalise on the area’s brand value and prestige.

However the accelerating transformation from commercial back to residential means that Mayfair is fast returning to the most desirable of residential brand addresses – and prices are increasing accordingly.

Properties for sale in Mayfair: Best Value under £1,500,000

Please visit the link below featuring Direct Property Group for more info and photos:

http://www.squarefoot.com.hk/international/uk/6


Contact Direct Property Group Hong Kong now : +852 6117 8126 or please visit http://www.directpropertygroup.com for more info.