Iranian ultra-high-net-worth private and corporate/state backed buyers will spend up to £6 billion ($8.63 billion) over the next five to 10 years on investing in overseas property in locations including London, Dubai, Switzerland, Germany and the South of France, according to new calculations by London estate agent Rokstone.

Led by Iranian-born managing director Becky Fatemi, whose family before the revolution worked in Tehran for the Shah (King) of Iran, Rokstone has a network of Iranian clients, both nationals and diaspora.

Currently 30 per cent of Rokstone¹s clients are from the Middle East, and of these five per cent are Iranian. From the uplift in Iranian enquiries since sanctions were lifted, Rokstone calculate that there will be a 25 per cent upturn in Iranian buyers looking for homes in London over the next 12-24 months.

Economic data from JP Morgan trained researchers at New World Wealth reveal that there are some 32,000 high net worth Iranian individuals/households worth over £2 million ($2.87 million), including 65 individuals/families worth over £70 million ($100 million) and four billionaires.

Of these, Rokstone calculate that around 1,000 to 1,500 HNWIs/families or companies will have the desire to invest money in overseas real estate over the next 3-5 years, with up to 50 of these having the finances to spend up to £100 million ($144 million) each on overseas investments.

Given these numbers, Rokstone estimate that up to £6 billion could be invested overseas by Iranian investors in international real estate and other lucrative opportunities.

Rokstone highlight that even if just five to 20 per cent of this money comes to London/UK this is still extremely significant sums of money flowing into the British property market.

"London will be Iranian’s top location for investing in real estate. Culturally if you are wealthy in Iran you invest in property and jewellery/gold as long term assets. Historically there are deep ties between the UK and Iran," stated Fatemi.

Britain, he said, was the colonial power in Iran and it were British firms that first exploited the country's oil reserves.

"Between 1945 and 1979 the Shah of Iran, his Royal court and the business elite had lots of ties with Britain and the elite owned luxury residential property in London and the home counties," he added.

According to Batemi, the alternative locations have less appeal.

Historically, rich Iranians also invested in New York and Los Angeles, but US government primary sanctions remain in place so these choices are not available.

"Dubai on the doorstep will also be popular but it cannot compete with London’s educational system or cool summer climate. The other historic ties are with Germany, Paris, the French Riviera and Switzerland but London is safer than these since a lot of properties in the capital are in conservation areas where building alterations are restricted so values hold and outperform continental Europe," he added.  

Rokstone said there will be four types of Iranian investors looking to acquire property in London/UK.

The first are private individuals/families, the second are professional investors followed by the private companies and quasi-state backed entities or sovereign wealth funds.

According to Rokstone, the private individuals/families will predominantly be looking for London pied-a-terres for themselves or their student offspring, this will predominantly be newly refurbished or recently completed new build homes.

Most buyers will look to spend anything from £1 million to £30 million ($1.4 million to $43 million) on London homes, with the top-five most popular locations for purchase being Knightsbridge, Mayfair, South Kensington, Hampstead and St John’s Wood, the company said.

"During the 1960s and 1970s Iranians and Greeks were the largest buyers of luxury property in Knightsbridge and Mayfair. The elite ­ and by that I mean the top 10 per cent of Iranians in terms of wealth ­ would send their children to school in either the UK or US and the fashion was to own an apartment in London or Paris, come shopping to Europe in the summer, and own a villa on the Riviera," said Batemi.

"This is what wealthy Iranian families did before the Shah fell in 1979," he added.-TradeArabia News Service