Sahara India Pariwar, the conglomerate run by Indian billionaire Subrata Roy, is all set to buy the landmark Grosvenor House hotel in central London, which was once home to the Duke of Westminster. Royal Bank of Scotland, which took control of the property in 2001 when it paid 1.2 billion pounds for 12 Le Meridien hotels as part of a sale- and-leaseback deal, has agreed to sell Grosvenor House Hotel to Subrata Roy for a knock-down price.

With Indian real estate prices in the niche segment in India showing signs of robust recovery, high net worth Indians and NRIs are again eyeing foreign shores for real estate investments reports the Economic Times. Many are now turning to invest in UK property and other markets.

With real estate prices going down by a whopping 25-30% and hitting rock bottom in some geographies and distress asset sales becoming the order of the day, there could be no better time than this to pick up a dream home abroad. And experts confirm that the decision to buy property overseas is driven strongly by an end-use perspective.

Some of the places which now offer good investment opportunities for HNIs include the Middle East especially Dubai. In USA it’s particularly New York City, Virginia and San Francisco. The others include Singapore and UK, according to Rajiv Sahni, partner, real estate practice, Ernst & Young.

Mayank Patel, group chairman & CEO of Azibo Group, a London-based private investment firm, who is himself a real estate investor agrees that globally there are huge opportunities to invest in UK real estate because of distress sales. “I am an investor in real estate myself and feel that the UK provides good opportunities for high net worth non-resident Indians and people of Indian origin. This is mainly because the pound sterling has fallen against the Euro and the dollar and UK property prices of various prime properties are much lower today than they were about a year ago. So NRIs who are based in the US or Europe will find good deals here. Also worldwide, in locations across geographies such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, France, Spain, Florida and New York, property prices have fallen 30% over the last one year, because of distress asset sales and the credit squeeze by banks and FIs. While the Indian community globally, does have sophisticated portfolios, the fundamental business culture is one of going in for fundamental investments in real estate – and that’s the reason that many of the HNIs are grabbing the investment opportunities globally,” says Patel.

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