Why a slice of Edinburgh is being bought up by overseas owners

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Why a slice of Edinburgh is being bought up by overseas owners2 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleAndrew PickenData Journalist, News ScotlandPA MediaNew data shows hundreds of properties in Edinburgh's Quartermile development were sold to overseas buyersEdinburgh's Quartermile district is wedged between the city's historic Old Town and The Meadows, one of the city's most popular parks. A rash of glass and steel towers surround 19th Century sandstone buildings left from when a hospital occupied the city centre site. But walking among its sleek new buildings, housing offices and luxury apartments, it is hard to escape the sense you could be almost anywhere in the world.

And when you look at who owns the properties in this controversial development, there is another unexpected discovery. More than a third of the properties in the development were bought by people based overseas, latest figures have revealed. Registers of Scotland (RoS) data shows 263 of the 751 property titles at the site were registered to an overseas address when purchased.

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This includes 95 buyers based in Hong Kong alone. They are among more than 5,000 offices, hotels, homes and shops in the city where records show the buyer was based outside the UK at the time of purchase. Getty ImagesThe Edinburgh Futures Institute, run by the University of Edinburgh, which is part of the Quartermile districtThe vast majority of property and land in Scotland is registered to people and companies based in the country.

But RoS data shows a total of 28,825 titles - 1. 4% of the total - on the land register where the owner had an address outside the UK at the time of purchase. Titles in Edinburgh account for 18.

7% of the overseas registrations. Located on the site of former Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, the Quartermile development gets its name from the fact it measures a quarter of a mile from corner to corner. It was a controversial project because of the height and design of its glass tower blocks - and also because it only came about because the hospital was moved to a new site on the edge of Edinburgh with poor transport links.

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The development has been a commercial success with offices let to the likes of travel website Skyscanner and a raft of top legal firms. Its flats have also proved popular. Data released to Scotland shows that in the EH3 9G postcodes that cover Quartermile, 369 of the titles in the land register were lodged with people or firms based in Scotland at the time of purchase.

A further 119 were registered to addresses in the rest of the UK, and 263 were outside the UK. A breakdown of the properties registered overseas shows they went to a total of 44 different countries or crown dependences, including Russia and the Cayman Islands. A total of 95 titles were registered to owners in Hong Kong, a further 51 to buyers in Singapore and 12 in Malaysia.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.