More than half of the 1,900 ultra-luxury apartments built in London last year failed to sell, adding to fears that the capital would be left with dozens of
“posh ghost towers”. The swanky £1m-plus flats, complete with private gyms, swimming pools and cinema rooms, are lying empty as hundreds of thousands of would-be first-time buyers struggle to find an affordable home.
It is not the first time that Centre Point has failed to find occupiers. When the tower was completed in 1966 it did not attract enough high-paying office tenants and remained vacant for a decade, leading to it to be nicknamed “London’s empty skyscraper”.
Homelessness campaigners staged an occupation of the tower in 1974 to highlight the problem and the tower then lent its name to
homelessness charity CentrePoint.
“Now its happening all over again – Centre Point’s redevelopers have taken fright at Brexit jitters and decided many of its luxury apartments must remain empty again,” said Chris Bailey, campaign manager of charity Action on Empty Homes.
He added: “There are over 20,000 long-term empty homes in London, while over 50% of the 79,880 families and 123,230 children in temporary accommodation in England are in London, costing London’s councils hundreds of millions a year.
London can’t keep on funding this while land is gobbled up to build empty towers for an increasingly speculative global market which now appears to be faltering before the spectre of Brexit price dips.”
