Alford Hughes, Qatar’s only prime international real estate office, has announced the release of the second edition of the Global Investor Guide in collaboration with Qatari Artist Abdulaziz Yousef, popularly known as ‘Temsa7’. Building on the success of its previous collaboration with Qatari artist, Bouthayna Al Muftah, for the inaugural edition, Alford Hughes continues to support local artists, providing them with an outlet to showcase their creativity and bolster their growth.
The Global Investor Guide is available exclusively to the Alford Hughes Investor Network in Qatar. It offers insights and investment guidance into prime real estate opportunities from across the world and showcases a portfolio of luxury properties exclusively available for sale through Alford Hughes for investors from Qatar. The guide aims to serve as a valuable resource for investors, providing expert advice to make informed decision-making in the complex and ever-changing world of international real estate investments. The latest edition highlights hotspot destinations, including Paris, Istanbul, London, Manchester, Dublin, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon, chosen for their vibrant culture, lifestyle, and promising investment prospects.
Mohammed Al Baker, CEO of Alford Hughes, expressed, “We take pride in championing the local art scene by providing a platform to local artists to express their creativity. With the Global Investor Guide, we bring unparalleled investment advice and opportunities to our investor network in Qatar.” As an art investor himself, Al Baker, added, “We also hope our investors cherish this guide as a limited-edition art collectible.” “I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our investors to the newly launched Alford Hughes Lounge, at 6 La Croisette, Porto Arabia, The Pearl Island. This VIP lounge is truly one of a kind in the Qatar market and provides our investors with a boutique luxury setting so that our team of international real estate experts can guide you on investing internationally, locally”, Al Baker, added.
Mohammed Al Baker, Managing Director of Bin Yousef and Founder of Alford Hughes
Year after year, France remains a popular option for Qatari nationals to buy real estate. Whether it be Paris or the endearing allure of the Riviera there is something for everyone. However, buying a property as a non-resident foreign national in France can be tough to navigate.
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For the high-net-worth buyer, five-star services provided by a world-leading hotel is becoming an increasingly popular selling point.
Hotel branded residences, a new style of luxury development is growing increasingly popular. According to Savills’ Branded Residences Spotlight report from 2020, the number of developments created in partnership with a brand has increased by 170 per cent in the past decade, and 2021 is poised to be another record year, with 100 new schemes expected to open globally.
From fashion to motoring to interior design, lifestyle brands are falling over themselves to have a piece of the property pie. These brands that emulate their clients’ – and residents’ – lifestyles; high-net-worth individuals who are used to a certain standard of service, design and experience. But more popular still are those brands for whom a five-star lifestyle is the very bread-and-butter on which their business is built: luxury hotels. Already experts in hospitality, hoteliers account for 84 per cent of completed branded residence schemes and 88 per cent of those in the pipeline.
The Residences by Mandarin Oriental on Hanover Square
The prestige that is associated with best-in-class hotel brands – such as Raffles – appeals to the world’s high-net-worth individuals, who are looking for something completely unique.
“For these buyers, this is unlikely to be their primary address, meaning a branded residence really does tick all of the boxes. It offers the charm, service and amenities one would expect from a six star hotel, but is still a private space that feels like home and can be returned to time and again. It is the perfect balance that makes branded residences so special, and which is ultimately driving demand and growth in the sector.”
Take Twenty Grosvenor Square, the very first standalone private residence by the Four Seasons, which launched in London in 2019 with prices starting from £17.5m for a four-bedroom apartment. While there is no hotel directly attached to the Finchatton-designed property, the residents in each of the 37 homes have access to an exclusive Four Seasons team, offering housekeeping, valet keeping, grocery shopping and a range of other services. The hotel group also acts as a property manager for the building, taking care of the homes while their owners are away.
Twenty Grosvenor Square, photography by Simon Upton
Completing this year is The Residences at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, a Clivedale London development of 80 residences and a 50-key hotel located on Hanover Square, with apartments starting from £2.95m. Along with health and wellbeing amenities and access to the hotel’s roof terrace bar and restaurant, residents will enjoy a private lounge, in-residence dining, housekeeping, valet parking and a 24-hour residential concierge. It’s the second development of this kind being steered by Clivedale London, which is also the brain behind Mayfair Park Residences, the Dorchester Collection’s first private homes. More subtle than the former, this development of 22 apartments and townhouses is hidden behind a Georgian façade. From the exterior, you’d never know it was linked to the neighbouring 45 Park Lane hotel, which provides access to a series of services, amenities and a health and wellbeing facility to the building’s residents. Prices start from £4.25m.
Opening in 2022 opposite the Horse Guards in Whitehall, The OWO will be housed in the Grade II-listed Old War Office, the former stomping ground of Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Lord Kitchener. Along with 85 homes and 125 hotel suites, there will be nine restaurants, many of which will be the first of their kind in London, and a world-class spa. Residents will have privileged access to “a truly seamless, five-star hotel service that they can access 24 hours a day,” says The OWO’s head of marketing, Jenny Naylor, as well as a host of private amenities, including a cinema, games room and exercise studios. “The former Old War Office building has an extraordinary history and heritage, an enviable location opposite Horse Guards and incredible architecture,” Naylor adds. “To own a piece of this history or to stay as a hotel guest in what used to be Churchill’s old office will be a most memorable and privileged experience.”
Next year will also see the completion of the Belgravia-based The Peninsula, which, along with a five-star hotel, will be home to 26 residences designed by award-winning firm Peter Marino Architects. In Mayfair’s Grafton Street, meanwhile, a £500m 83-bedroom hotel under LVMH’s Cheval Blanc umbrella will open with six Cheval Blanc Private Residences. Each home will have its own private pool.
Such is the allure of branded residences that, according to the Savills Branded Residences Spotlight report, they achieve a premium of 31 per cent compared to similar non-branded residences – and recent events have done little to dampen demand. Despite the hospitality industry taking a knock during the pandemic, developers, hoteliers and buyers alike are seeking safety and security in branded residences.
Developer CK Asset Holdings set a new benchmark on their 21 Borrett Road scheme
A luxury apartment in Hong Kong has just broken Asia’s price per square foot record.
The 3,378 square foot unit at CK Asset Holdings’ 21 Borrett Road was reportedly picked up for HK$459.4m (US$59.3m), setting the new benchmark of HK$136,000 psf.
Sprawling across the 23rd floor, the five-bed is the biggest of the 181 flats at the super-prime development in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels; it came with three parking spaces, a 2,131 square foot roof terrace, and a swimming pool.
The previous record (HK$132,100 psf) was set in 2017 by a pair of units at the Mount Nicholson project that sold for a combined US$149m, which still stands as the most expensive apartment ever sold in Asia.
In Hong Kong, several standalone mansions have sold at much higher prices than the Borrett Road penthouse. In the exclusive enclave of the Peak, where billionaires and business moguls live in secluded mansions, homes can sell for hundreds of millions.
In 2016, real-estate developer Chen Hongtian paid $270 million for a 9,212-square-foot mansion at 15 Gough Hill Road. In January 2017, iPhone screen manufacturing billionaire Yeung Kin-man paid $361 million for a 51,000-square-foot mansion on Pollock’s Path.
Buying, owning and selling a US$2 million property for non-resident purchasers.
For those looking to purchase a property abroad, the associated costs with buying, owning and selling a property can influence buyer decisions.
Property taxes are also often used as a tool by governments to influence residential markets. Since the pandemic, we have seen tax reductions be used as a tool to drive growth in residential markets such as London and Mumbai.
According to research by Savills in their Prime Index: World Cities 2021 report, Hong Kong is the most expensive in the index. Here, an overseas buyer can expect to pay over 30% of the purchase price – most of which is stamp duty for overseas buyers. On the other hand, Shenzhen has the cheapest associated costs but has the tenth most expensive purchase price.
The research is based on a non-resident overseas buyer purchasing a $2 million property.
This is for use as a second home for less than nine months of the year over a five-year hold.
Berlin & London Lead Real Estate Investment Destination In 2021
According to PwC and the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2021 report.
The survey which polled almost 1,000 industry leaders across Europe showed that Berlin has moved up one place to retake the number 1 spot of overall real estate prospects, toppling Paris, which drops to third.
Germany’s capital is the city investors want, especially its offices. “The effects on the office property market are not particularly drastic. One of the main reasons for Berlin is the upward potential in rents,” says an investor. Germany’s three other major markets remain firmly cemented in the top 10, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich. “The theory is that Germany is in better shape than most of the other economies. And therefore, in a way, if you’re going to buy anywhere, you buy in Germany,” says a pan-European fund manager.
London takes the silver this year, rising two places to pip Paris. Europe’s two global gateways and most liquid property markets still have many fans.
Many interviewees still view London as a relatively good prospect.
“London has got to be the most transparent and the most liquid market in the world. It’s a market where international capital is very comfortable”
Meanwhile, Paris crops up on every investor’s wish list, for logistics and residential as well as offices. The city’s flagship €26 billion ($31 billion) “Grand Paris” infrastructure project and the 2024 Olympics, which are still expected to take place, are frequently cited as plus points.
