With a number of foreign buyers in the market on the lookout for the purchase of properties in London, due to the recent devaluation of the pound, bargains have suddenly become harder to find.

The general upward trend in the level of interest shown is making banks, which are the largest block of owners in these office rental properties to sit back and wait the coming upturn on the hopes of making a good profit on their assets which have been showing negative returns so far. This is putting a huge damper on any kind of deals getting closed, and those that do are being managed in a very roundabout manner. Hence the deals are getting harder to find even as the credit crunch which was stifling any activity on the real estate market till recently, eases up considerably.

Take into consideration the recent experience that Great Portland Estate had. The company was able to raise £165 million to fund new acquisitions. One property was in the West End GPE in central London. To acquire the property, it must pay the debt owed by past lender Eurohypo, as well as commit another £88 million towards redevelopment of the property. Then the equity of the site would be split with the Dubai investment firm of Isthimar.

Therefore, though the purchase of the property will go through, no-one felt that it would take such a complicated route to reach completion. This kind of dealing is what is putting off most buyers when it comes to finalizing these so-called bargain deals.