London’s elite property associating with the ordinary

It is a rare phenomenon to hear of super prime property being openly sold but last month has seen a record number of elite London properties, with a total value of £1.7 billion escaping into the open market rather than being restrained between the gates of the private eye and privileged few.

The super-prime London property market is normally kept confidential between wealthy buyers and sellers, however with supply increasing and properties staying on the market longer, the trophy homes have been leaked into the public domain. The 14 properties have an average value of £120 million, 300 times the London average, so it is unsurprising that there are a limited number of buyers who have the financial means to afford such prime property.

The owners of these exclusive properties stand ranks above the typical sellers in the current UK property market, with no financial need to sell there is no urgency to reduce the asking price significantly or sell quickly. For the ultra-high net worth individual it may be a chance to find a ‘bargain’, although for some the postcodes of Mayfair and Kensington Palace Gardens could still be a distant dream.

For Central London this quantity of on-market super prime properties is a rare sight, although it does transpire that even the elite have waited for the market to recover after the financial crisis and are now strategically deciding to place their luxurious properties on the market.

Over recent months the London market has found itself increasingly in the public eye with various articles being published on Middle Eastern and Far Eastern investors.

It is fast becoming commonplace to read about the likes of the Hinduja brothers, The Russians and Chinese, The Malaysian backed Battersea Power Station, the Sultan of Brunei or the Qatari’s, and more multi million pound properties becoming available on the public housing market. However, for those discrete sellers, private millionaire and billionaire owners there remains another market. Off-market or pre-market properties that sometimes come with a premium still remain an everyday part of the London market.

Those with direct access to this ultra-high net worth club are often at the forefront of the capital’s biggest and most private real estate transactions. Garrington remain active in this sector, acting for numerous, yet private and discrete, clients in the upper echelons of prime residential and commercial property.

So whilst we are seeing an unusual trend of super-prime homes being ‘super exposed’ to a wider audience, we remain confident that this pattern of market will be short lived and on many occasions ‘best of breed’ property transactions will remain off-market, accessed by the well informed and the well connected.