Italians have overtaken the Russians as the biggest group of foreign owners buying prime London property.
According to research by Knight Frank, the property company, 7.3pc of all London purchases in the first two months of this year were made by Italians, up from 2.1pc in the same period last year. Russians made 7.2pc of purchases in the prime London index, which covers homes worth £3.7m on average.
Experts said the change represented a flight to London by overseas investors who want to preserve their wealth in the face of political and economic upheaval in the eurozone. Around 3pc of purchases in these two months were by Greeks, pushing Greece - at the centre of the eurozone crisis - into the top five nations buying London luxury homes.
The index covers the 13 most expensive areas of central London, including Belgravia, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Notting Hill and St John's Wood. It found that the average price of luxury residential properties in these locations rose by 0.7pc in February.
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of residential research, said he believed that prices would continue to rise in the coming months. "To recap on the current position, prices are now 8.9pc above their previous peak of March 2008 and have risen at a rate almost double that seen in previous upturns. This has been a very strong upturn.
"The rationale for the revival has been well rehearsed: weak pound, plus capital flight, plus rising global wealth, minus thin supply, equals rampant price inflation.
"There is much truth in the above formula, and a careful examination of transactional market data confirms that the process seems set to deliver further growth, at least in the short term."
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