Inditex, the world's largest fashion retailer, has bought its flagship Zara store in London for 155 million pounds, taking advantage of a "rare opportunity" to own one of the city's best retail locations.

Zara on Oxford Street / Photo: Zara

The Spanish group said on Monday it had bought the 7,000 square-metre property at the intersection of Oxford Street and New Bond Street from German fund manager Deka.

While Inditex leases most of its stores, it has a penchant for buying the best - last year it spent 485 million euros ($612 million) buying the buildings for Zara flagships on New York's Fifth Avenue and Milan's Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

Spain's largest listed retailer, which runs eight brands including upmarket store Massimo Dutti and teen label Bershka, said the building was made up of 3,155 square metres retail space, with the rest leased to third parties as office space.

Inditex, which has expanded rapidly outside its home market to run more than 5,600 stores in 84 countries, said on Monday its expansion strategy "remains focused on opening stores on a leasehold basis".

Last Wednesday, Inditex posted a forecast-beating 30 percent rise in quarterly net profit to 432 million euros ($538 million), on sales of 3.4 billion.