High-Rise Flats Sell Off-Plan in Four Hours
A 41-storey block of apartments worth £140m has essentially sold out off-plan within only four hours.
This kind of market activity has not been witnessed since just before the last housing market crash.
High-Rise Flats Sell Off-Plan in Four Hours
This shocking rate of sale equated to £580,000 worth of sales per minute, despite the site being just a hole in the ground.
The high-rise block, Maine Tower, is being built by Galliard Homes in Canary Wharf and is not due for completion until 2019.
The developers noted that they have not experienced such a huge volume of sales since before the financial crisis.
Additionally, the average purchase price of £1,200 per square foot is a new record for the area.
Around half of the purchasers were foreign, however, Galliard says that some of the domestic buyers were young first timers.
Of the overseas buyers, some were from Europe, including Greece, and India, the Middle East and Far East.
Maine Tower’s launch was held in a marketing suite next to the site. One person started the queue 36 hours before it opened and by the start there were more than 150 people queuing.
The developers have reserved some of the apartments – the ones it has called premier and penthouse properties – from the launch, releasing 230 of 297 apartments.
Of this, 208 were sold within four hours. An estimated 350-plus people attended the launch.
Sales Director at Galliard Homes, David Galman, says: “It’s not everyday in London that a residential skyscraper virtually sells out during a launch.
“The volume and speed of sales at the Maine Tower launch was incredible and shows the confidence that buyers from both the UK and overseas currently have in the London property market.”1
