Mayfair To Feel Effects of Credit Crunch

Mayfair has long been the home of London's hedge fund community. Many of these slightly secretive, sophisticated financial vehicles have taken a real hammering as a result of the global economic crisis, and this sector could be facing closures on a large scale.

The hedge fund community collectively have accounted for a major slice of Mayfair's commercial property tenants, and they paid premium rents. We're talking super prime rates which put even the City of London in the shade. They could afford to do this because, frankly, there was huge amounts of money sloshing about.

But as many firms close down or move out, and demand for office space set to fall with companies unwilliing or no longer able to afford previous rates, office landlords in Mayfair can look forward to a period of markedly reduced rental income and unlet space.

More on the effects of the Credit Crunch on Mayfair's hedge fund community in the Telegraph.

New Bond Street Dearest Place For Store Owners

In what is perhaps not a very suprising piece of news, ThisIsMoney.co.uk has reported that New Bond Street in Mayfair is the most expensive place in Britain to rent retail space.

Global property agent Cushman & Wakefield have detected an increase of 11% over the last year, which they put down to a number of new tenants designed to take advantage of spending power provided by the influx of wealthy Russian businessmen into the capital.