London luxury property prices to rise 8% in 2011

The average price of a £3m home in areas such as Knightsbridge and Belgravia rose 9.6% in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the company. The quarterly gain was 3.4%. "Overseas demand has been much stronger than we expected," Lucian Cook, a researcher at Savills, told Bloomberg. "The big unknown is what happens in Greece - will it be a catalyst for more demand because of the outlook for the euro region?" Buyers based outside the UK have been competing over a below-average number of properties for sale in central London as they seek a haven for their wealth amid po...