Apartments in Central London

My wife and I may soon move to London as expatriates for a 3 or 4 year stint. We could either rent a central London apartment (2 bedrooms) or buy one and retain it as an investment property when we return to Australia. Any advice on the current state of the market in London, what would be the hot areas to live in/buy an apartment in and any other tips you can think of will be most appreciated.

Cheers
Pyramid

Hiya,
Im currently living in london, it really depends on your budget and where you are working. Over here transport is most important, no one really owns a car in London. They rely on the tube stations, so any house near a tube line will be a good buy.
Basically there is lots of potential to purchase a positive gear house here in London, I was looking to buy to let so I have researched into it. basically there is more demand and not enough supply, its amazing different over here everyone has to house shares because its really expensive to rent a house. U see I come from small Perth and was renting a cottage with my partner for $180p/w. (haha I know I bet those days are gone now too)
Unfortunately at the moment you will find it really hard to get a loan over here. The banks invested heavily in the sub-prime sector in America so most are withdrawing mortgages off the market, to re-evaluate their position. Funny really cos when I first arrived over here within 3months of working HSBC offered me and my partner a loan-that was a year ago now. b4 the credit crunch.
But the credit crunch could work in your favour as bargins come into the market, as it is reported a lot more repossesions will be occuring.

Which area were you thinking of renting in?

Beware - big corrections  coming !! Central London is always going to be good but wait until the BOE reverses interest rates down a bit more..