“It doesn’t matter whether the buyers are from Kent or Kuala Lumpur, he shouldn’t be promoting housing as an asset for speculators” says Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson, as only 12% of homes in the Battersea Power Station are classed as ‘affordable’.
Battersea Power Station, as viewed from the North Embankment of the Thames. Photograph courtesy of David Samuel.
The Mayor of London revealed today that almost 4 in 10 of the homes sold so far in the Malaysia Square development at Battersea Power Station have been sold to overseas buyers, having previously downplayed their importance by suggesting only 6.5 per cent of homes across London are bought by foreign nationals. It is not known how many of the other homes were sold to British investors, rather than to potential owner occupiers. Only 12% of the homes are classed as ‘affordable’.
Darren Johnson AM commented, “The Mayor has to realise that by encouraging investors to buy up homes in London he is driving up prices.
“He has talked up his voluntary agreement with developers to market homes to Londoners before overseas investors, but this can just mean marketing extremely expensive flats to British investors instead. It doesn’t matter whether the buyers are from Kent or Kuala Lumpur, he shouldn’t be promoting housing as an asset for speculators.”