London Luxury Home Sales Grew in 2013

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Luxury home sales in London increased 37 percent last year as the number of U.K.-based buyers grew, according to a new report.

The number of homes worth £4 million to £5 million led the increases, growing by 88 percent. The transactions volume of homes worth more than £10 million increased 42 percent, according to Bloomberg, reporting on data from Knight Frank. 

London's luxury home market has enjoyed 39 months of consecutive price gains, fueled by foreign investors searching for safe assets. 

In January, prices increased 0.4 percent. In the last 10 years, the index has increased 135 percent. 

In 2004, "1 million pounds bought you a two-bedroom flat on the upper floor of a converted building on a garden square in Knightsbridge," Tom Bill an associate at Knight Frank, said in the report. "Today 1 million pounds would buy a basement-level studio flat on the same square."

As confidence grows, London's property market is "evolving beyond its safe-haven status as signs of economic growth return to the U.K.," Mr. Bill. "More people are spending more money in prime central London as global economic threats recede."

U.K.-based buyers accounted for 74 percent of purchases during the year, increasing from 72 percent in 2012 and 68 percent in 2011, Bloomberg reports. The number of buyers from Europe fell to 11 percent last year from 16 percent the previous year. For the first time in four years there were no buyers from Greece, according to the report.