UK homebuilders to stop early sales to foreigners

[LONDON] Housebuilders have agreed to offer Britons new homes in London at the same time as people from outside the country, ending an occasional practice of first marketing them abroad which has worsened the capital's housing shortage.

London housing is being snapped up by Russian oligarchs, Indian tycoons and Europeans fleeing the euro zone crisis, helping fuel a rise in property prices and making it tough for local people to buy a first home.

Eleven of the capital's housebuilders, including Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments, said on Wednesday that they had signed a commitment to sell homes in new developments in Britain before or at the same time as trying to sell them outside the country.