Huge house price falls bring super-rich back to central London

High-end agency Savills says London’s super-rich are now buying and selling more actively than a year ago. 

The agency says London’s so-called ‘super prime’ market saw a surge in the number of sales over £15 million, up 43 per cent over the more subdued 2017 figure.

It says some £4 billion worth of prime London homes worth over £5m changed hands in 2018, up 10 per cent on 2017.

“The price falls we’ve seen in the central London market, when combined with the depreciation of Sterling, means the trophy properties of central London look relatively good value in an international context,”  says Savills’ residential research head Lucian Cook.

“Despite the backdrop of political uncertainty and a less welcoming tax environment, these figures are clear evidence that London remains an attractive place for a growing pool of international high net worth individuals to live and conduct business” he adds.

According to Savills, values in prime central London peaked in June 2014 and have since fallen by 19.4 per cent, with a 4.1 per cent fall in 2018 alone. 

For properties above £15m, prices have fallen by a slightly greater figure of  22.6 per cent in total.

A total 73 properties worth over £15m were sold last year, with a total value of just shy of £2 billion, the highest since 2014 when stamp duty reforms were introduced, resulting in much higher transaction costs at the top end of the market.  

In 2017 there were just 51 sales in this price bracket, with a total value of £1.4 billion.

Savills recorded a further 261 sales between £5m and £15m across London, with a total value just below £2 billion, compared to 290 sales in 2017.