November 10, 2012

Is posh London being leased out a la Hong Kong?

I refer to your House & Home weekly supplement from which we can deduct that London holds a tremendous appeal for capital looking for posh safe havens. Could it not be described as, de facto, Britain giving up an important part of London under a sort of Hong-Kong type lease? 

For a country that has joined others in giving up on risk-taking, in order to go for what seems to be ultra-safe, triple-A rated, this does not sound like a bad business model. It poses though some interesting questions, like for what length is this lease envisioned, what other benefits than high real estate prices are obtained, and how are these benefits distributed. 

It would also be interesting to hear if someone is setting aside something of the lease revenues so as to pay off Britain’s not so small public debt. 

Also in a world where we can suspect the competition among posh-safe havens for clients to increase, how is London doing relative to its competitors? That of course is only if the thought of London having some competitors is deemed acceptable to you.