Despite various reports suggesting that an influx of international investors are fuelling the London property boom, new research shows that they volume of overseas buyers acquiring properties in the capital solely as an investment has been overestimated.
According to research conducted by Savills, overseas investors purchasing property in London to let out rather than live in only account for an estimated 7% of all greater London residential transactions, fewer than some experts had anticipated.
"Even in these prime markets, domestic buyers outnumber international buyers by over a wide margin," said Yolande Barnes, a research director at Savills.
Reported high rates of international purchasers buying property in London are primarily due to high investor activity in the capital's new build sector which accounts for less than 10% of all London transactions.
The report from Savills also found that while international buyers account for 32% of all property sales in London, just like domestic buyers some 88% are buying a home in which to live.
"Our analysis demonstrates quite clearly that these are not buy to leave owners as popular myth suggests and the majority are resident buyers, especially in the second hand market," Barnes added.
Property prices in London have soared in recent years, fuelled by a sharp rise in demand for properties, while there has been an insufficient supply of new homes coming onto the market.
Inward migration and natural population growth boosted London's population from 7.3m to 8.2m between 2001 and the 2011 census. But with expectations that it will increase by another million by 2021 - the fastest rate of growth ever - demand for homes in the capital will inevitably rise further, potentially pushing up property prices in the process.