Buyers from China and the return of City bonuses is causing rents to soar and prices to inflate across London’s more expensive properties, according to Curzon Investment Property.

The firm claims that during the last 12 months rents have increased by 9.2% as the desirability of certain west London postcodes has increased. The cheap pound and gains in the Chinese Yuan after it rid itself of the dollar pegging are helping Chinese buyers get out of the crowded housing market back home, inflating London prices as interest comes in from all corners of the globe.

Meanwhile, the return of large bonuses to London’s biggest earners has revived the high end market, it claims.

Curzon says that although market interest has been building, we are still some way off of the peaks achieved during the 2007 boom, due mainly to the high deposits required from UK retail banks. For overseas investors who still benefit from around 30% discounts on prices – due to the weakness of sterling – interest is edging closer to those pre-2007 levels.

James Moss, director at Curzon Investment Property, said: “Almost three quarters of our customers are bankers who are spending anywhere between £1 million and £5 million per property. Often