The number of prime homes in London being sold for more than £10 million has risen to a 10-year high as super-rich buyers have returned to a property market which has been boosted by a weak pound.
At least 61 £10m-plus properties were sold across the capital in the past year, according to research property service LonRes, the highest level since 2011.
The figures show that the popularity of London remains undimmed, despite the challenges of Brexit and the war in Ukraine which has largely ended demand from wealthy Russian buyers.
Among the luxury homes sold this year include a 12-bedroom mansion on Belgrave Square that sold for more than £90m and a mansion on the Boltons in Chelsea that sold for £42m.
The combined £1bn value figure is slightly higher than last year, but 49 per cent higher than the average recorded before the pandemic.
One of the luxury homes still available on the market is Warwick Lodge in Pimlico — a 7,000 square foot 19th century building which was once the family home of an ancestor of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
Anthony Payne, managing director of LonRes, said there was “a hell of a lot of money around chasing very few properties, and of course that is pumping up prices”.
“The rich have a lot of money at the moment,” he said. “Governments have thrown in huge liquidity, and while a lot of people are in pain financially, a lot of rich people have a lot of money to spend. They want to put it into property, and lock in while interest rates are low.”
Worries over the UK economy have driven the pound to fall even lower this month, with an 11 per cent decline being recorded in the first six months of this year, as it slumped to $1.20, a highly attractive rate for international buyers.
Buying agent Henry Pryor said the market was not suffering from a lack of Russians buying and selling following sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.
“There are very few professionals in London missing the Russians,” he told the Guardian. “The capital still has global appeal to the very wealthy from other parts of the world as well as our own domestic market. Maybe the odd central estate agent [has], but for the rest of us their place has already been taken and the market has moved on without missing a beat.”
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