Houses in Kensington and Chelsea have been fetching huge sums.
(Picture: Getty Images)The super rich have bought 61 luxury London properties with price tags of more than £10m in the first six months of 2022 with sales at their highest in a decade.
The total value of £10m-plus homes changing hands so far this year has topped £1bn as international buyers continue to be attracted to London despite Brexit.
Among the sales is a 12-bedroom mansion on Belgrave Square that fetched more than £90m.
The square, near Harrods and Buckingham Palace, is one of the property hotspots for the super wealthy.
Other luxury homes sold so far this year, according to Land Registry filings analysed by property service LonRes, include a mansion on The Boltons in Chelsea that sold for £42m, a King’s Road residence for £40m and a Mayfair home near Hyde Park for £40m.
Anthony Payne, managing director of LonRes told the Guardian there was “a hell of a lot of money around chasing very few properties, and of course that is pumping up prices”.
He said the drop in the value of the pound, which has fallen by 11% since the start of the year to $1.20, had attracted overseas buyers looking for “a deal”.
“The rich have a lot of money at the moment,” he said. “Governments have thrown in huge liquidity, and whilst a lot of people are in pain financially, a lot of rich people have a lot of money to spend. They want to put it into property, and lock in while interest rates are low.
“Buying agent searches for super-prime properties, registered on LonRes, are at their highest level ever which would all point to continued momentum in the immediate months ahead.”
The 61 sales total is the highest since the first half of 2011, according to LonRes.
The combined £1bn value figure is slightly higher than ast year, but 49% higher than the 2017-19 average.
New developments including the Old War Office on Whitehall and No 1 Grosvenor Square in Mayfair have proved popular with the super rich.
A show apartments at the Old War Office development was sold for an undisclosed multi-million pound sum within 24 hours of its launch. More than 10 apartments in No 1 Grosvenor Square have sold so far in 2022 at values between £15m and £40m, according to the developers.
Henry Pryor, a buying agent, said the market was not suffering from a lack of Russians buying and selling following sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.
He continued: “There are very few professionals in London missing the Russians. The Capital still has global appeal to the very wealthy from other parts of the world as well as our own domestic market. Maybe the odd central estate agent [has], but for the rest of us their place has already been taken and the market has moved on without missing a beat.”
Agents also said that the introduction of new rules that will force overseas buyers to declare their ownership from next month, have led to some international buyers rushing into the market before they kick-in.
The new register of overseas entities maintained by Companies House comes into force on 1 August.
