More money spent on £10m-plus properties in London this year than 2019 – report

More money has been spent on London’s “super prime” market this year so far than during the same period in 2019, despite the coronavirus lockdown, analysis has found.

Knight Frank looked at sales of homes for £10 million-plus.

It found that between January and August 2020, £1.13 billion was spent on super prime property in the capital, compared with £977.5 million recorded during the same time period last year.

There were 30 transactions above £10 million in the first three months of 2020 compared with 18 in 2019.

Despite a sales dip in the second quarter of the year, as tight coronavirus restrictions affected the housing market, there was still a total of 56 super prime deals throughout the first eight months of this year – only one less than the 57 recorded during the same period last year.

With restrictions placed on overseas travel, around 40% of super prime exchanges in the first eight months of 2020 have involved British buyers – the highest proportion seen over the past decade.

Kensington accounted for the highest proportion of London super prime deals in the year to August. During the same period in 2019 Mayfair had the most super prime transactions.

Knight Frank said that the demand for outdoor space has fuelled increased activity in the family house markets, especially in areas such as Notting Hill, St John’s Wood, Hampstead and Belgravia.

Houses accounted for two-thirds of sales over £10 million in the year to August 2020.

Paddy Dring, global head of prime sales at Knight Frank said: “The trend for more outdoor space has benefited suburban and country markets but buyers are retaining a London investment for the long-term. Prices are robust with single-digit percentage discounts, but no more.”

Rory Penn, head of Knight Frank’s private office said: “Large discounts are not available despite the pandemic. Vendors are resilient, debt is cheap and banks are not calling in loans.

“Prices, for now, don’t feel like they have much further to fall after the declines of recent years. It doesn’t appear that another 10% is about to come off overnight. The number of deals in 2020 compared to last year underlines the liquidity and resilience of the market.”

Looking ahead, Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: “The final quarter of the year will be marked by uncertainty as the UK Government seeks to contain the pandemic.

“Brexit and the US elections will have an impact on currency movements but the relaxation of travel restrictions will be the key factor affecting transaction volumes.”