Demand for capital’s most expensive homes falls during coronavirus

By Rafi Mauro-Benady

Demand for the priciest pads in some areas in the capital has all but disappeared due to the coronavirus crisis.

According to new research, no homes worth more £5m were sold in Battersea or Wandsworth between January and March this year.

Last year sales of £5m plus homes accounted for nearly 10 per cent of the property market in those areas.

The study, by estate agent Benham and Reeves, found that the pandemic has hit the sales of ‘premium’ property across the board.

It found that 842 homes costing £2m and above were sold between January to March this year, compared to more 2,000 in the same period last year, a drop of nearly sixty per cent.

It looks like traditionally affluent areas have been less hard hit than boroughs with lots of new developments.

Sales of £5m plus homes in leafy Wimbledon, home to tennis stars and media moguls such as Boris Becker, are down only slightly compared to the new developments along the Thames.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, said: “The spread of the coronavirus is having a big impact on buyer sentiment and this is remarkably evident in areas where there is currently no buyer demand at all – a phenomenon rarely seen in a market as popular as London.”

He said that the very rich were only selling their properties if they had to.

He said: “During times of uncertainty people try not to sell, so the property market is reliant on death and divorce.

“In times of crisis, the UK property market relies upon factors of necessity among home movers such as death, divorce and employment patterns.

“However, the present situation is preventing all but the most committed buyers from transacting and this is no different in the prime and super-prime echelons of the London market.”

Pictured top: Parkside in Wimbledon – home to some of the most expensive houses in London (Picture: Google Street View)