London’s Mayfair neighborhood isn’t just one of the most coveted districts in the British capital; it’s also one of the most expensive. A new report from Beachamp Estates found that the number of sales of high-end properties priced at £10 million and up (or roughly $12.7 million) has doubled in the past year. The study also showed that a total sum of £313 million (about $398 million) was spent on trophy homes in 2023. For context, that’s nearly three times the £123 million ($156.5 million) that was logged in 2022.
According to the report, the growth of Mayfair’s super-prime market is being driven by deep-pocketed shoppers from the U.S. and the Middle East. More specifically, high-net-worth individuals from Saudi Arabia and the UAE splashed out more than £80 million ($101.8 million) on residential real estate in Mayfair in the last few months.
On an even more granular level, a whopping 70 percent of the homes sold for more than £10 million have been large lateral apartments. The brokerage noted that units measured an average of 5,447 square feet and traded for a median of £21 million ($26.8 million).
Elsewhere in the world, super-prime properties with attention-grabbing prices are seeing steep discounts and a slowdown in sales. In California, the Los Angeles mansion tax, which went into effect on April 1, has resulted in both a decrease in transactions and less demand for homes in the $5 and above category.
And in Manhattan, struggling properties on Billionaires’ Row are getting multimillion-dollar price cuts. At the Central Park Tower, the price of a high-floor unit originally listed for $175 million has been reduced by 15 percent, and the supertall’s triplex penthouse, first listed for a stratospheric $250 million, recently got a $55 million markdown. However, optimism remains strong in the ultra-luxury sector.
