Massive discounts up to 21% for prime London homes, says bank

Some of the most expensive properties in London are selling typically between 13 and 21 per cent off the asking price.

And at least one area of the capital has homes typically 28 per cent below their 2014 norm, while the typical time to sell a prime property has also risen to six months.

These are the stark findings of Coutts bank’s London Prime Property Index, which says it reveals the scale of the impact that Brexit and stamp duty hikes have had on the market – with sales volumes dropping to their lowest level since 2013.

Katherine O’Shea of Coutts real estate investment service says: “Foreign buyers interested in a luxury London home can get a further, currency-related boost. The current status of the pound means that for dollar-denominated buyers, prime London property is about 40 per cent cheaper than it was in 2014, and for those using euros to make a purchase it’s about 30 per cent cheaper.”

Even so, the bank says prime London prices have actually edged up in the first quarter of this year - albeit by a negligible 0.4 per cent - but they are typically three per cent down on this time last year and an average of 17 per cent below their peak five years ago. 

Some areas are well below this average. 

The bank offers what it calls ‘local highlights’ to indicate the scale of the downturn in the capital. These include:

- Prime properties in Knightsbridge and Belgravia are over 28 per cent cheaper than they were in 2014;

- Fulham and Earl’s Court have been amongst “the worst-hit areas in terms of prime property sales volumes. Echoing the London-wide trend, transaction volumes there are at their lowest in six years”;

- In Pimlico, Westminster and Victoria “two thirds of prime property is being sold for a reduced sum, with buyers getting an average of 14 per cent off the asking price”;

- In Battersea, Clapham and Wandsworth prices are down a modest 2.9 per cent over the past year but transactions have plummeted 35.4 per cent; 

- And in Chelsea, prime property in Chelsea is 21 per cent cheaper than it was in 2014;

- Prime homes in Hammersmith and Chiswick are 21.2 per cent cheaper than in 2014, while at Kensington, Notting Hill and Holland Park prices are 16.3 per cent down.