倫敦市中心又將增添數千套豪華公寓

Thousands of new luxury apartments are appearing in central London in the city’s latest building boom — but some will now be less palatial than originally planned.

在倫敦市最新這輪建築熱潮中，市中心又將增添數千套豪華公寓，但部分公寓可能不如原計劃那樣奢華。

Developers are going back to their drawing boards to replace large homes with higher numbers of smaller, less expensive flats after increases in stamp duty sent the top of the market into decline.

隨着印花稅上調導致高端住宅市場下滑，開發商們已開始重新規劃，將大房子換成更多套數的面積較小、價錢較低的公寓。

The latest example is the New Scotland Yard site in Westminster, where the Abu Dhabi-backed developers are in talks with planners to increase the number of apartments and cut their size.

位於威斯敏斯特的新蘇格蘭場項目就是最新例子，有阿布扎比背景的開發商正在與規劃者討論增加公寓套數，縮小房子面積。

“There is a wider trend in prime London to reduce unit sizes,” said Mark Farmer, chief executive of Cast, a real estate and construction consultancy.

房地產及建築諮詢公司Cast的首席執行官馬克•法默(Mark Farmer)表示：“倫敦黃金路段的大趨勢是縮小公寓面積。”

He said changes made by former chancellor George Osborne, which increased the tax on expensive homes while reducing it for those below ￡925,000, were partly to blame. “The key trigger point, I would say, is the ￡925,000 stamp duty threshold, where rates step up from 5 to 10 per cent, or from 8 to 13 per cent if you are an investor.”

他說前財政大臣喬治•奧斯本(George Osborne)調整稅收是造成這一趨勢的部分原因——新政策增加了豪宅的稅收，同時下調了售價低於92.5萬英鎊房產的稅收。“我認爲關鍵導火索是92.5萬英鎊的印花稅門檻，超過這個門檻稅率從5%上升到10%，如果你是投資者，那麼稅率就從8%上升到13%。”

These new rates, which came into force in 2014, have been blamed in part for a slowdown in the luxury new-build market.

新稅率於2014年生效，一直被指責部分地導致了中高檔新建住宅市場放緩。

Investors who are buying second or additional homes — a key market for new-build — pay an extra 3 per cent of the purchase price.

購買二套或以上住房的投資者——新建住房的一個重要市場——要多支付購買價格的3%。

While prices in some areas are still rising, the average new-build price in London’s West End was down 4.5 per cent in the past year, according to JLL, the property agency.

據房地產服務機構仲量聯行(JLL)的數據，部分地段房價仍在上漲，不過倫敦西區新建住宅平均價格在過去一年下跌了4.5%。

Northacre, which is developing the New Scotland Yard site, said the group was increasing the planned number of apartments from 268 to 295 because it was “changing a number of the three-bedroom apartments into one- and two-bedroom apartments”.

新蘇格蘭場的開發商Northacre表示，該集團準備將計劃新建公寓數量從268套增加到295套，因爲它打算將“一批三居室公寓改成一居室和兩居室”。

“This is due to the fact that our initial marketing efforts have resulted in strong interest for those smaller units,” the group said.

該集團表示：“這是因爲我們的初期營銷工作令投資者對較小的公寓產生了濃厚的興趣。”

The former police headquarters, bought by Abu Dhabi Financial Group for ￡370m in 2014, is to be redeveloped over the next five years into a 1m sq ft development across six buildings, which will also include retail, restaurants and offices.

新蘇格蘭場將在未來五年重新開發，總佔地面積一百萬平方英尺，包含6棟大樓，同時將附帶零售及餐飲空間和寫字樓。新蘇格蘭場以前是倫敦警察廳總部所在地，2014年被阿布扎比金融集團(Abu Dhabi Financial Group)以3.7億英鎊收購。

The developers of the 42-acre Battersea Power Station site have made similar changes, applying earlier this year to add 409 homes to the 3,444 planned, cutting the number of three- and four-bedroom units — as well as eliminating plans for a hotel — and enabling the flats to be sold at lower prices.

佔地42英畝的巴特西發電廠(Battersea Power Station)地塊的開發商也作出了同樣的調整，今年早些時候申請將計劃的3444套公寓增加409套，削減三居室和四居室的數量，並取消建設一座酒店的計劃，同時允許以較低價格出售公寓。

The Clearings development in Chelsea, backed by the Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, received permission this month to change its mix of homes to eliminate seven town houses and a six-bedroom flat, increasing the total units from 69 to 78.

切爾西Clearings項目本月獲批可以改變其混合住宅計劃，取消7棟聯排別墅(town house)和一套六居室公寓，將公寓總數從69套增加到78套。該項目背後的支持者是Sports Direct創始人邁克•阿什利(Mike Ashley)。

While developers look to shrink their most expensive flats to make them easier to sell, there are also signs that the stamp duty changes, market slowdown and uncertainty over the process of the UK’s departure from the EU are deterring developers from building altogether.

雖然開發商們計劃着縮小他們要建的最貴豪宅的面積，讓房子更容易出售，但也有跡象表明印花稅的調整、市場放緩，以及英國脫歐過程帶來的不確定性都削弱了開發商的積極性。

The number of new homes started in central London dropped by 58 per cent in the first half of 2016 compared with the second half of 2015, from 8,760 to 3,670, according to JLL figures.

據仲量聯行的數據，2016年上半年倫敦市中心新房開工數量比2015年下半年下降了58%，從8760套減少到了3670套。

Mr Farmer said it was likely developers’ margins would be squeezed even with the changes to their building plans.

法默表示，開發商即使調整了建設計劃，其利潤空間仍可能被擠壓。

“It is actually also more expensive to build, per square foot, a smaller-unit, denser scheme, so developer gross margin may still fall unless you drive higher sales values per square foot for the smaller units, which is a tough ask in a hardening market,” he said.

他說：“實際上按照每平方英尺造價來說，面積較小、設計較密集的房子其實更貴，因此開發商的毛利率仍可能下降，除非你將較小公寓每平方英尺銷售價值拉高。在一個不斷緊縮的市場，這是個艱難的問題。”