Several established prime areas saw the opposite trend. Maida Vale recorded the steepest quarterly decline at -7.8%, followed by Belgravia (-5.4%), Mayfair (-3.2%), St John’s Wood (-1.9%) and Victoria (-1.5%).
Despite the fall in available stock, Mayfair retains the highest concentration of super-prime listings in London, with 75.4% of all current properties in the area carrying an asking price of £2 million or above. Knightsbridge follows at 67.4% and Belgravia at 57.4%.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make is talking about Prime Central London as though it’s a single market,” said Marc von Grundherr (pictured right), director at Benham and Reeves. “It isn’t. Every postcode behaves differently because each attracts its own buyer profile, stock mix and level of international demand.
Von Grundherr noted that while overall supply had continued to edge higher, the variation between neighbourhoods reflected how localised the prime market had become. He added that simply listing a property was rarely enough in current conditions, with buyers growing more selective and transactions taking longer.
He said agent relationships had become increasingly valuable as a result. “The ability to collaborate, share opportunities and access trusted networks across London and internationally is helping agents connect highly specific buyers with highly specific properties in a market that is becoming more fragmented, not less,” Von Grundherr concluded.