Worsening financial and political turmoil in southern Europe caused a surge of interest in London property last month with buyers from Greece and Spain showing strongly among investors seeking a safe haven for their money.
The number of Greeks searching for homes costing more than 1.5 million pounds ($2.4 million) on the website of property agent Savills jumped 39 percent in April compared with the average of the preceding six months, the company said.
"The reason Greeks are coming is very simple," said Dinos Joannou, a 65-year-old Cypriot who works in the Athenian Grocery in the Bayswater district of London and has seen growing numbers arrive this year. "Greece is screwed, there are no jobs and it has been run by crooks." The number of Europeans buying property in London has grown steadily over the last year as the euro zone debt crisis has worsened but numbers spiked ahead of elections in Greece last weekend that failed to produce a government.
George Kastaros, 37, dresses as a traditional Greek soldier handing out leaflets for the Kalamaras restaurant on Queensway in Bayswater, an area popular among Greeks and home to the St Sofia's Greek Orthodox cathedral. The Athenian moved to London before the crisis began in 2007 and said the number of Greeks arriving jumped after Christmas.
"Dressed like this, Greek people who have just got off the plane come up to me with their suitcases and ask where they can find a place to live or a job. I was stopped by more than 100 people in January."
The chef at Kalamaras arrived five months ago with his son and daughter, who are a doctor and teacher, he said. "These are well-educated people who cannot find jobs in Greece." "What we're seeing is another stage in the euro zone crisis gathering pace," said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at property agent Knight Frank. "It's ironic that the more instability you get in the euro zone the more the London property market benefits."