The London property market has long held allure for foreign nationals. Buyers from Russia, Europe and the Middle East are among those to have piled into the capital’s most exclusive postcodes, keen to bag a trophy property in one of the world’s greatest cities. And while the sharp economic downturn has tarnished London’s reputation as a financial centre, for some foreign investors there may be few better times to enter its property market.

The recent sharp fall in the value of sterling, together with the rapid decline in house prices, means some foreign buyers are able to snap up family homes and luxury flats in London for about half the peak market price of 2007. Foreign buyers, who helped to fuel the property boom of recent years, are now waiting in the wings to benefit from the bust.