Luxury new homes for less: stamp duty hikes deliver more choice for London’s bigger-budget buyers

Higher stamp duty means sales of luxury homes have halved. While there’s a glut of glamorous prime London homes on the market, buyers with big budgets can go shopping for glamour with big discounts.
£1.79 million: penthouses at Islington Square have roof gardens, while the development features an on-site Third Space health spa
David Spittles19 February 2016

Anyone lucky enough to have at least £1.5 million to spend on a new home has even more reason to be cheerful right now.

“There is an abundance of choice. The pendulum has swung in favour of bigger-budget buyers,” says David Salvi of estate agent Hurford Salvi Carr.

Higher stamp duty is largely to blame for so many premium homes being on the market. Analysis by data firm LonRes shows transactions are down 22 per cent compared with just a year ago.

Sales of properties priced above £5 million have halved. Looking at the bigger picture, the global economy is jittery, with low interest rates, cheap oil and currency devaluations spooking banks and choking off investor interest — which is clear from the glut of fancy apartments on the market.

The latest new luxury homes in London

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About 54,000 homes are under construction or in the planning pipeline in the priciest areas of London — yet only 3,900 properties worth more than £1 million sold in these areas in 2014.

Developers rushed in recent years to tap into overseas investor demand, building off-plan luxury homes in central London. Now they are having to do more to attract UK buyers, who are in a far stronger position to negotiate discounts, upgraded interiors or some other extra.

OVERLOOK THE TOWER OF LONDON

“We always respond to market changes,” says Gary Patrick, director of Barratt Homes, which this week launches Landmark Place, a glamorous new riverside development next to the Tower of London, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

From £650,000 to £10 million: Landmark Place, next to the Tower of London, offers waterside homes from studios to penthouses


The project, a collaboration with the Candy brothers, luxury developers of exclusive One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, raises the bar for a City address, offering waterfront flats with spectacular views. Two interconnecting blocks rise to 11 storeys, and more than 80 per cent of the external surface area is glass.

Architectural inspiration is drawn from Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, a modernist masterpiece. The 165 flats include £10 million penthouses with vast roof terraces. Other homes have recessed balconies, and glazing wraps around the corners of the buildings, widening the views.

Prices start at £650,000 for a studio and equate to about £2,000 per square foot. There is a glass-encased spa and swimming pool, a river- facing residents lounge, business suite and cinema room, while a glass-roofed entrance atrium will be staffed by 24-hour concierge. Completion is due in 2018. Call 020 3047 2324.

TALL TOWERS AND TOWNHOUSES
ISLINGTON

Islington Square creates a new quarter in a fashionable north London neighbourhood. This redevelopment of a Royal Mail depot off Upper Street brings 263 homes and covered shopping arcades with boutiques, bars and restaurants, a theatre rehearsal space, health club and cinema.

From £715,000: Islington Square brings new homes and covered shopping arcades to a fashionable north London neighbourhood

Four new site entrances will open up an Edwardian warehouse complex, closed to the public for a century. An acre of green space is being created across the rooftops of restored buildings and new blocks of loft-style flats.

From the upper floors, there are splendid views of the City and Canary Wharf skyline. Prices start from £715,000 rising to £1.79 million for penthouses with roof terraces. Through Savills, Beauchamp Estate and Knight Frank. Call 020 7723 6733.

MARYLEBONE

Marylebone continues to pull in new buyers priced out of Mayfair. A boutique scheme of oak-panelled, marble-walled flats at New Cavendish Street has prices starting from £4.6 million. Call Druce on 020 7935 6535.

From £4.6 million: boutique apartments at New Cavendish Street, Marylebone. Through Druce

MARBLE ARCH

The tall, stucco townhouses of Connaught Place at Marble Arch were built with main rooms overlooking Hyde Park.

Seven lavish flats have been created behind a classical façade with imposing portico entrances. The homes mix ornate plasterwork with luxurious modern finishes and come with an internal courtyard and large terrace.

The highlight is a 6,000sq ft residence over two floors with a private cinema and spa. Concierge services are provided by nearby Harrods. Prices from £13.25 million. Call 020 3489 0559.

SOUTH BANK

A four-bedroom duplex penthouse crowns a new 29-storey tower that is part of the five-acre Shell Centre redevelopment on the South Bank. The building is named after Sir Hugh Casson, director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain which put the area on the map as a cultural quarter.

See a model of the development and a mocked-up show flat in the old County Hall offices. Two-bedroom flats start at £1.2 million and three-bedroom homes from £3.6 million. Call 020 7001 3600.

While you are in the area, take a look at Palace View, with its vista of Lambeth Palace and the Palace of Westminster. An office block has made way for 55 flats with underground parking and courtyard gardens. Prices from £745,000. Call Taylor Wimpey on 020 7355 8150.