While 19 per cent of the Chicago-headquartered firm’s client base are British, the majority come from Asia, with 17 per cent from Hong Kong, 15 per cent from Singapore, 14 per cent from Malaysia and five per cent each from India and China.

Four per cent are Russian, four per cent are European and three per cent are Turkish, said the firm at a joint launch this month, for London developer Berkeley Homes' latest project, 375 Kensington High Street.

“Demand for the best London properties has remained buoyant despite the macro-economic problems,” said James Thomas, international director of residential development & investment at Jones Lang LaSalle London.

“We are finding that buyers from Asia are particularly interested in buying London property, partly to preserve their wealth and also to diversify their assets.” The firm holds about 15 marketing exhibitions in Asia per year.

Thomas said that regulation changes have not dampened appetite. Since new rules were passed in this year's budget, buyers of property worth more than £2 million must now pay stamp duty of 7 per cent, up from 5 per cent. There are also new taxation measures for properties bought through company vehicles.

But concerns that the move would stymie demand for top properties have proved unfounded, said Thomas. “It is not having a significant impact. What we’re finding is that because of the greater costs of transferring property, people are choosing to hold their properties for longer periods of time, so competition for those properties is even greater.”

Strong performance in central London last year has also made real estate more appealing, added Thomas. London forecasts are well ahead of national forecasts, and last year PCL property grew on average 9 per cent versus -2 per cent for the rest of the UK. This is partly down to the fact London is dominated by equity rich buyers, while the rest of the UK are mainly constrained by mortgages. Mortgage availability is still constrained as banks remain guarded over their loan books.

Jones Lang LaSalle forecasts prime central London property to grow six per cent in 2013 and 8 per cent, in 2014, after which growth will ease off slightly to around 7 per cent in 2015 and 6 per cent in 2016.

Since 1981, prime central London property has delivered 8.9 per cent per annum, on average, said Thomas.

Jones Lang LaSalle will be working with 375 Kensington High Street, a development of 530 luxury apartments on Kensington High Street. The one, two and three bed apartments are priced at around £17,000 per square foot. Completion is due in 2014.

Paul Vallone, managing director at Berkeley Urban Renaissance, said of the business his division at Berkeley did last year, Hong Kong buyers had the biggest representation, followed by Singapore then Kuala Lumpur. 

"Even though it is six thousand miles away, Hong Kong is our biggest market by far. Our repeat customers from Hong Kong make up about 30 per cent of our business," he said. This is partly down to the fact that UK banks are frequently not comfortable lending on off plan purchases, he pointed out.