Wealthy Iranians are hoping for the best as they try to flock London's prime real estate scene expecting that the sanctions imposed on their country will be cleared by next year, Judith Evans of the The Daily Star reports.
Rich Iranians are trying to buy in London's £2m to £5m real estate bracket, and Faisal Durrani of Cluttons said that they have had Iranians seeking for their service in the hopes of soon being able to do so.
"They want to understand the market as soon as possible for when they are allowed to invest abroad," he said. "They want an asset that isn't in the [Middle Eastern] region, and they are drawn by the strong capital values and the growth story."
"Some of them are concerned about the government changing direction in a few years' time, and that sanctions could return. It's a form of insurance policy, an international bolt hole," he added.
As proof, an Iranian buyer was able to acquire a £33m Jersey House on the Bishop Avenue or popularly known as the "Billionaires Row" in 2014 from a prime London homes agent, Trevor Abrahamsohn.
According to Abrahamsohn, there are also Iranians who are keen to renting a property in London ahead of buying homes in the coming year. Since the imposition of the sanctions on Iran during the 1970s, it has been "extremely difficult" for Iranians to acquire properties overseas, says London-based Iranian mortgage broker and financial adviser, Babak Amamian. However, new measures were included in the 2000s despite the US-Iran nuclear program dispute.
Specific individuals and assets went to freezing, but Karen Mitchell of Charles Russell Speechlys said that there's a difference with Iran's sanctions than the others in that "there are also restrictive measures which apply to ordinary Iranian people and businesses who have no connection with Iran's nuclear program".
Money transfers were no longer that easy to do and several UK banks, in fear of breaching complex sanction legislation, declined to transact with Iranians, Mitchell said.
Before it got extremely difficult, some Iranians managed to move their money overseas, and to do big transfers to the UK, a special permission from the Treasury needs to be in place.
Sanctions however are expected to be slowly loosened in the coming months after a landmark deal with world powers.
