LIFE WITH LILLIAN
LONDON DATELINE
C
entral London is happily still the same, but amidst feelings of déjà vu going on in my head was just how
expensive London and its properties have become – so costly in fact that as the week progressed and I got into chatting about apartment prices and checking out new and renovated developments available, I realized to my horror that getting a three bedroom apartment in my favourite part of London, within the boundaries of the highly desirable postcode W8 of Kensington, could well be beyond my reach. Yes my dears, we are talking ballpark numbers in the mid or high 1 to 2 million for a small flat and much more for something passable, in pounds not
34 FENGSHUIWORLD | JULY / AUGUST 2013
US dollars! With the boys growing up fast and soon heading to UK for their education, investing in a place here becomes a need, not a luxury! Help!!! I used to come to London so often that I had invested in a little pied a terre in Kensington, but after Jennifer graduated, I decided I had no more use for the flat so I had sold it, and at a good profit too, and only just three days after I had listed it on the market. In retrospect, that was a mistake, for to buy it back would cost me maybe twice or three times what I got for it. In the interim period, many
nouveau rich have continued to move to London and have been driving up real estate prices more aggressively than ever. In the old days, just two decades ago, it had been the Arabs with their oil money who pushed up
Enjoying the ROD STEWART show at the O2 stadium, dining at NOBU’s, shopping at Selfridges, lunching at Harrods, catching up with my laughing diva friend Carmel and edging in the perennial London must-dos such as tucking into lobster noodles and roast duck at the Chinese restaurants along Bayswater and walking the High Street on the lookout for new designers… my week- long break in London brought a new reality into sharp focus - that cosmopolitan London has become even more cosmopolitan, and it is today a magnet for many of the world’s nouveau rich and not so rich in search of new lives!
property prices in London. It seems this great city is a natural magnet for the new rich who see having a place here as the first thing to invest in with their newfound wealth! In the past ten years, more new
rich have been arriving, and the group that has made their presence felt most strongly have been the super nouveau rich Russians of Putin’s Russia. Te post Boris Yeltsin’s oil and gas tycoons have been bringing billions and billions into London, buying not just luxury properties but also super yachts and football clubs. Meanwhile, the Middle Eastern
potentates have not stopped coming, except these days, it seems the Qatar royal family are the big buyers, rather than the Saudis or the Kuwaitis. Tey are the new owners of Harrods
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