NBK highlights Investment Opportunities in real estate markets in London and Paris

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) on Tuesday organized a seminar for its customers highlighting the investment opportunities in the real estate markets in London and Paris.
The seminar, titled “London and Paris Property Markets: recent trends and outlook”, was   attended by Isam J. Al Sager, NBK Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, Fawzi Al Dajani, NBK London General Manager, and Pierre Auba, NBK Paris General Manager.
Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank and Kevin McCauley, CBRE Senior Director, presented the latest developments in the residential and commercial real estate markets in London and Paris as well as the available investment opportunities.
“NBK is keen to present to its customers the latest economic and financial developments in the world,” said Al Sager.  “Real estate markets in London and Paris are witnessing an increasing demand from investors around the world. This seminar aims to provide our customers with an insight of the real estate markets from two of the world leading firms in this field.”
Al Dajani shed the light on the various real estate services that NBK offers to customers in London and Paris. “NBK’s real estate services allow customers to easily own, rent and lease properties with legal consultations in London and Paris, with the chance to finance the property up to 70 % of its value.”
“In a simple and straightforward procedure, NBK customers can buy and sell, lease or rent, settle bills, receive real estate assessments and many other services with competitive prices,” Al Dajani added.
Bailey said that prices of the prime real estate in London are expected to increase by 5% in 2012 and up to 20% by 2016. Prices increased by 40% since the first quarter 2009.
Bailey noticed that the demand for housing in London is outpacing potential supply, with a gap exceeding 43%. He expected the market to receive a welcome boost over the coming months as London hits the global spotlight and people from around the world choose to spend their summer there.
On the other hand, McCauley presented the latest developments in the commercial real estate markets in London and Paris.
“London and Paris commercial property markets are the most liquid in Europe”, said McCauley. Foreign Investments in the European commercial real estate market exceeded 19 billion euro in 2011, almost third of it in London (by 5.8 billion euro) followed by Paris by 1.1 billion euro.
“Although capital values have increased since the first quarter of 2009, they are still 20% below their previous high,” he added.
McCauley said that despite the current economic challenges facing by the Eurozone and the French legislative and Presidential elections in April and May of this year, Paris prime market will see prices continue to stabilize in 2012.

NBK’s Real Estate Services in London and Paris:
• Buying and Selling Real Estate: find the right real estate or a suitable offer to sell your current real estate with competitive prices due to the solid business relationship with trust worthy real estate agencies.
• Leasing or Renting: through trust worthy business relationships in London, NBK can find the most suitable real estate or tenant.
• Real Estate Assessment: a number of certified real estate experts to help evaluate the proposed real estate whether for buying or selling.
• Legal Consultations: find a proper lawyer to execute all legal procedures related to proposed real estate buying or selling.
• Real Estate and Property Insurance: preserve rights and properties saving time, effort, and expenses.
• Bill Settlement Service: includes on time settlement of all periodical bills such as electricity, water, gas, telephone line.
• Saving Your Property Contracts:  all property documents related to your real estate are properly saved.
• Real Estate Expenses Report: provide a detailed real estate expense report when needed allowing follow up expenses
• Free Property Ownership or Extending Ownership Contract: assigning a real estate lawyer to supervise and  finalize all the steps and procedures to buy the right of free ownership or extend the ownership or even add or cancel an individual from real estate ownership register
• Offshore Services: to establish and manage companies offshore and own real estate