Boosted by this activity at the very top end of the market, almost £4 billion worth of prime London homes worth over £5 million changed hands in 2018, up 10 per cent on 2017 - demonstrating that the central London market has very different drivers to the capital's broader, more domestic prime markets.

All sales over £5m in London Value of Sales (second hand and new)
£5m - £15m £15m+ Total over £5m
2016 £2,262,000,000 £1,786,000,000 £4,047,000,000
2017 £2,218,000,000 £1,414,000,000 £3,632,000,000
2018 £1,997,000,000 £1,997,000,000 £3,995,000,000
16 v 18 -11.7% 11.8% -1.3%
17 v 18 -9.9% 41.2% 10.0%

Source: Savills Research

'The price falls we've seen in the central London market, when combined with the depreciation of sterling, means the trophy properties of central London look relatively good value in an international context,' said Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills.

'Despite the backdrop of political uncertainty and a less welcoming tax environment, these figures are clear evidence that London remains an attractive place for a growing pool of international high net worth individuals to live and conduct business.'

According to Savills, values in prime central London peaked in June 2014 and have since fallen by 19.4 per cent, with a 4.1 per cent fall in 2018. Above £15 million prices have fallen by a slightly greater figure of 22.6 per cent in total.

But for the first time since 2008, ahead of the financial crisis, as much was spent in total on £15 million-plus properties as on those worth between £5 million and £15 million, and the average price paid for these high value properties was still £3,375 per square foot - 14 times the average across England as a whole.

A total 73 properties worth over £15 million were sold last year, with a total value of just shy of £2.0 billion, the highest since 2014 when the Government introduced new, progressive stamp duty tariffs, resulting in much higher transaction costs at the top end of the market. In 2017 there were just 51 sales in this price bracket, with a total value of £1.4 billion.

Savills recorded a further 261 sales between £5 million and £15 million across London, with a total value just below £2 billion, compared to 290 sales in 2017.

'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,' said Jonathan Hewlett, Head of Savills London residential business.

All sales over £5m in London Number of Sales (second hand and new)
£5m - £15m £15m+ Total over £5m
2016 291 60 351
2017 290 51 341
2018 261 73 334
16 v 18 -10.3% 21.7% -4.8%
17 v 18 -10.0% 43.1% -2.1%

Source: Savills Research

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Savills plc published this content on 24 January 2019 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 24 January 2019 17:13:28 UTC