London Luxury Home Prices Drop as Prime Areas Lose Appeal
High-end London properties are sitting unsold with steep price cuts, reversing decades of outperforming national averages.
London's most prestigious postcodes are showing cracks in what was once considered an unshakeable property market, with multimillion-pound homes enduring dramatic price reductions and extended time on the market. A flat at Queen's Gate Gardens in South Kensington — steps from the Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum — has seen its asking price fall by nearly £1 million over the past year, now listed at £4.4 million.
The South Kensington case is not an outlier. According to a local estate agent, a nearby house originally marketed at £20 million was cut to £14 million this year — a reduction of nearly a third. In Notting Hill, a stucco-fronted home that entered the market two years ago at £16 million is now being offered at under £14 million, reflecting a broader softening across prime central London neighborhoods.
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For decades, London's housing market defied gravity, consistently outpacing national price growth and attracting international buyers who viewed prime central London real estate as a reliable store of wealth. That narrative is now being challenged as sellers find fewer takers willing to meet elevated asking prices, prompting successive reductions that would have been unthinkable in prior cycles.
Analysts and agents point to a confluence of pressures: higher UK stamp duty on expensive properties, uncertainty around non-domicile tax rules affecting wealthy foreign buyers, and broader global economic caution that has dampened appetite for trophy assets. The result is a buyer's market in some of London's most storied streets, with inventory rising and negotiating power shifting away from sellers.
Continue reading at Business | The Guardian.
