London's mansion sales boom: slashed prices and weak pound make trophy homes a 'bargain'
Agents said that a combination of slashed prices and weakened sterling had made the capital’s most opulent trophy homes attractive “bargain buys” compared to those in other major cities.
A total of 73 houses and apartments were sold in London at above the £15 million mark in 2018, a rise of 43 per cent on the 51 sales in 2017, according to analysis by agents Savills.
They were worth just under £2 billion, or an average of £27.3 million each.
London's 'try before you buy' mega-mansions
Jonathan Hewlett, head of Savills London residential business said: “The sums spent of the very top end of the market demonstrate the ultimate and enduring appeal of London’s most rare trophy properties — both heritage and new — when they come to the market.”
Prices at the very top end of the central London property market peaked in summer 2014 and have fallen by 22.6 per cent since then with tax increases and years of uncertainty over Brexit both blamed for the drop.
Combined with a 10 to 15 per cent devaluation of the pound against most currencies since the shock Referendum vote in 2016, this means that prices for foreign buyers are down by a third or more.
Savills recorded a further 261 sales between £5 million and £15 million across London last year, with a total value just below £2 billion, compared to 290 sales in 2017.
It was the first time since 2008 that as much was spent on homes worth over £15 million as between £5 million and £15 million.
The figures come days after it was confirmed that billionaire US hedge fund boss Ken Griffin bought 3 Carlton Gardens for around £95 million.
A flurry of mansion sales towards the end of last year included a six bedroom house in Mayfair that fetched £39 million, a Belgravia home that went for £60 million and a seven bedroom former school in Knightsbridge that sold for £50 million.