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Maine Tower in London’s Canary Wharf, a 41-storey resi tower by Galliard Homes in joint venture with Cain Hoy and Frogmore, has sold out off plan in just four hours after the launch of the development.

In total 208 apartments, worth £140 mln (€200 mln), sold at 'lightening speed', Galliard said, despite the fact that construction of the tower has not yet started and the project is not scheduled for completion until early 2019.

Some 50% of the buyers were domestic UK purchasers and included young first-time buyers acquiring studio and smaller one-bedroom flats in order to get onto the London housing ladder. The remaining 50% of buyers were from overseas from Europe (Greeks, French and Italian), India, the Middle East and Far East.

David Galman, sales director at Galliard Homes said: 'It's not everyday in London that a resi skyscraper virtually sells out during a launch. The volume and speed of sales at the Maine Tower launch was incredible and shows the confidence that buyers from both the UK and overseas currently have in the London property market.'

Located close to Millharbour Dock Basin, Maine Tower is designed by architect Rolfe Judd and provides a total of 297 apartments and penthouses for private sale. It is part of Harbour Central which consists of the £550 mln transformation of a 2.65 acre industrial site into a new Manhattan-style vertical village for Canary Wharf.

Harbour Central will provide 901 new homes, retail, commercial, leisure and parking facilities in five mixed-use towers, designed around two new London green squares. It will also offer 10,538 sq ft (about 1,000 m2) of ground floor retail and commercial premises and an 11,292 sq ft six storey entertainment and leisure facility providing a lounge/library, gymnasium/spa, private cinema, cocktail bar and club lounge.