Wealthy Domestic Buyers Propelling London’s Super-Prime Properties

A cohort of wealthy domestic buyers is propelling London’s super-prime residential property market toward a banner 2021, according to a report Tuesday from Savills. During the first nine months of the year, sales of the city’s most expensive homes—those priced at £5 million (US$6.8 million) or more—have outpaced any full year since 2015 despite a slight seasonal slowdown over the summer, the estate agency and real estate adviser said. In total, there were 352 super-prime deals recorded during the first three quarters of the year, 43% above the equivalent period in 2020 and 75% above the 2019 figure.  The total value of those 352 transactions reached £3.49 billion, 39% higher than the value of the big-ticket homes that changed hands in the first nine months of 2020 and 62% higher than 2019, the report said. The busiest segment has been the £5 million to £10 million range, which is dominating the market, but there were also 94 sales of properties priced at £10 million or more in the year to September—the most since 2015—with a total value of £1.7 billion. With international buyers largely still missing from the market, Londoners have been driving this year’s deals as they seek out more space and leafier locales post lockdown.As such, a handful of central London neighborhoods that are “prized for their substantial housing stock, private gardens and garden squares,” are home to more than half of all prime sales: Chelsea, Kensington, Belgravia, Notting Hill and St. John’s Wood.