Boris wants the door open for foreign buyers

24th January 2014

London Mayor Boris Johnson has said it would be “utterly nuts” to “slam the door” on wealthy foreigners who buy property in the capital, after Chancellor George Osborne announced a so-called “oligarch tax”.

Speaking at the annual London Government dinner at the Mansion House, Mr Johnson said “I do not in any way want to deter international investment in our city. Quite the reverse: I want to encourage it". Mr Johnson also said he recognised there was a “desperate shortage of homes” in the capital - with 47,000 needing to be built annually to meet current demand. New building projects should be “marketed first to Londoners”, he said, adding that foreign owners should either live in or rent out their properties to prevent properties being seen as “blocks of bullion in the sky”.

Source:   Evening Standard