The attraction of London property to foreign investors shows no signs of waning as a surge of Asian and Middle Eastern money ensured that UK buyers accounted for less than a fifth of all commercial purchases during the first half of the year.

Overseas investors were behind 82 per cent of property transactions in the City of London during the six months, a record high of ￡4.15bn, underscoring the demand for high value property at a time of low interest rates and weak sterling. The investment, which coincided with strong overseas spending across the capital’s office and retail property markets, meant that international buyers accounted for three quarters of the total ￡5.5bn commercial transactions in central London during the first half of the year, according to research from BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The demand for property in central London – long the preserve of domestic and US institutions – has been driven during the past two years by a coterie of increasingly ambitious sovereign wealth and pension funds.