Central London stagnation as it awaits foreign buyers - agency

High end agency Savills says prime central London remains “relatively subdued” ahead of the return of foreign travel and overseas buyers.

PCL price growth is actually in positive territory for the first time since September 2014 - it’s up a marginal 0.5 per cent in the past year - but the agency says it will not recover more significantly until travel restrictions lift.

Within central London, it says, the markets that have proved most robust have been Notting Hill, Bayswater and Holland Park. These have captured the strongest levels of domestic demand for family houses from those resident in the UK.

Prime London’s most wanted properties have been the very large homes through outer areas like West and South West London, where homes of six bedrooms or more delivered price growth of 8.3 per cent.

Here, according to Savills, demand has been fuelled by domestic buyers looking for more space and a large garden, but choosing to retain a London address.

More generally across London, the desire for more space means demand for houses has been stronger than for flats, resulting in annual growth for houses at 4.3 per cent and flats dropping in price by an average 0.6 per cent.

Similarly, homes with a large garden averaged price rises totalling 6.2 per cent over the past year compared to a 0.9 per cent fall for those without a garden.