BONUS CURBS LOWER LUXURY HOME SALES

       Britain's curb on banking bonuses may stunt the recovery in London's luxury-housing market by wiping out the windfalls that let buyers afford big mortgages, according to property brokers Knight Frank and Savills.
       Bankers and financial-services executives are just starting to buy properties again after a year of price declines ended in March.
       They alredy account for a smaller proportion of buyers than at the peak of the market, said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at London-based Knight Frank.
       "If you take bonuses out of the equation, prices cannot rise as qukckly and they will take much longer to return to peak levels," Bailey said in an interview yesterday. Knight Frank and Savills are the biggesg brokers for London houses and apartments costing more than 1 million pounds (Bt53 million).
       The UK's five larges banks agreed three days ago to impose limits on bonuses, follwoing guidelines set by the Group of 20 nations at their summit in Pittsburgh last week.
       Financial companies have cut thousands of jobs in London in the global recession, contributing to a slump in luxury-home kprices in districts such as Mayfair and Chelsea.
       Since March, property values in the most expensive areas have fallen as slower annual pace, Knight Frank estimates. They started to increase on a monthly basis in April and gained 1.3 per cent last month. Prices are still 18 per cent below their padk and 8.9 per cent lower than a year ago.
       Property values returned to the level of a year earlier, the first time since March 2008 that they have not been lower on an annual basis.
       The improvement in the luxury homes market is being driven by a scarcity of properties, rather than more purchasers, according to Savills, which is also based in London.
       The number of homes for sale is about 25 per cent less than the average for the past five years, the broker estimates.
       Finance-industry workers accounted for 32 per cent of luxuryhome buyers during the past six months, up from less 30 per cent at the start of the year, Bailey said. That compared with about 40 per cent at the market's peak in 2007.