A house in London, Sydney, Florida, anyone?

Indians are on a property buying spree across continents. High net worth Indians are picking up properties in London, Sydney and Florida. Says Pranay Vakil, Chairman, Knight Frank India, the Indian arm of a leading global property consultancy firm: “More and more Indians are buying apartments in London.”

Over the last three years, in London, property prices have escalated 20-80 per cent depending on the location. The demand is so huge that Knight Frank is setting up a London desk in India.

The maximum demand is for twobedroom apartments in central London and in areas like Mayfair and Westend, says Vakil. If London has great appeal for its global, cosmopolitian work culture and its educational institutions, then Florida in the US and Sydney in Australia are not far behind, but for different reasons.

Says Vincent Lottefier, CEO of the Gurgaon-based Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj: “Acquisition costs in the US and Australia are much lower than in Europe.

” No wonder then, Indians are seeking a place under the Australian sun, typically with budgets of US $200,000-400,000. Florida, on the other hand, attracts foreign investments from all over the Asia Pacific region, and Indian HNIs can hardly be left behind.