Kensington Palace Gardens homes, a stone's throw from William and Kate, hit by property slump as prices slip by £2.5m

London’s “billionaire’s row” at Kensington Palace Gardens has held on to its status as Britain’s most expensive address — despite a fall in value.

Prices of the mansions on the private road next to the London home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge slipped by more than £2.5 million but still average £35.7 million, according to property website Zoopla.

The tree-lined route, which runs from Notting Hill Gate to High Street Kensington and has an armed police presence at each end, has homes owned by some of Britain’s wealthiest people including Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, philanthropist Leonard Blavatnik and current Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah.

Its vast Victorian villas also house the official residences of the Russian, French and Norwegian ambassadors as well as the embassies of Israel, Romania and Nepal.

In second place, up one from last year, is Grosvenor Crescent in Belgravia, with an average property value of £21.9 million. In third place, and down from second last year, is The Boltons in South Kensington with an average property value of £19.9 million.

All the top 10 are in central London with the priciest address outside the capital named as Wentworth Drive, Virginia Water, Surrey, with an average value of £6.2 million.

The survey also finds that there are a total of 14,417 streets in Britain where homes have an average value of £1 million or more, up from 12,418 in 2016.

The data shows that 94.2 per cent of streets with an average property price of £1 million and above are in southern England with 5,899 in Greater London, and 5,278 in the South-East.

A study by Nationwide Building Society revealed on Friday that property prices in London fell an average of 0.6 per cent year on year — the first drop since the financial crisis.

But despite this fall, Zoopla spokesman Lawrence Hall said it was no surprise the capital still dominated the list. “This is partly thanks to some incredibly luxurious properties benefiting from unbeatable locations near the heart of the city,” he said.