Wealthy splurge £3.1bn on luxury London homes as demand recovers after pandemic
London’s mega wealthy splurged £3.1bn on 161 luxury homes across the capital’s most affluent boroughs in the year to 23 March – the strongest year for London’s luxury property market since the Brexit vote.
The highest number of £10 million-plus deals in London took place in Kensington, Belgravia and Mayfair, where the rich bought 73 homes, according to new data from estate agents Knight Frank.
The figure marks a notable jump, up from £2.5bn and 144 transactions in the previous 12-month period to March 2022.
“Overseas demand for high-value property dipped in the years following the Brexit vote due to the ensuing domestic political volatility,” Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. “[But] following the election of a majority government in December 2019 and the return of international travel as the pandemic wound down, demand has recovered.”
Paddy Dring, global head of prime sales at Knight Frank, added: “After everything that has happened in recent years, London is still highly-regarded by global buyers.”
Knight Frank didn’t have any data about the wealthy individuals that were purchasing the high-end properties.
But Dring warned that the luxury market could fall in the future, predicting that sales volumes will drop 10 per cent over the next 12 months due to economic and political uncertainty.
“The decline would be in line with the wider UK property market, which is still recovering from the shock of the mini-Budget,” he said.
“Sales volumes across the UK were 18 per cent down in the first two months of this year compared to 2022,” he said, although he acknowledged they were now rising steadily as mortgage rates stabilise.