Sales of prime London properties for £5m and above were up by more than 15% in March compared to the same month last year, according to the LonRes index.
High-value sales in March were also more than 8% above the pre-pandemic trend between 2017 and 2019.
At the end of March there were around 27% more £5m+ London homes on sale compared to the same month last year, and more around 47% more than the average number on sale before the pandemic between 2017-2019.
Annual rental growth across prime London rose slightly in March, to 3.8%, but rental values were 28% over their 2017-2019 average.
The number of high-end lets agreed was down by 9.1% year on year in March.
LonRes head of research Nick Gregori says: “While agreed sales of £5m+ properties are relatively much higher than in the wider market, there were some signs in March that demand has been weakening.
“The second half of March saw lower numbers of under offers and exchanges.
“While unlikely to be solely due to the changes to ‘non-dom’ tax rules – which only affect a small proportion of the capital’s residents – negative sentiment around London as a global city is unhelpful to the market.
“The prime London lettings market was subdued again in March, with newly agreed lets down almost 10% on a year ago despite increases in new instructions and available stock over the same period.
“Annual rental growth of 3.8% was a small rise compared to February’s rate and was the fourth consecutive month in the 3-4% range, a welcome change for tenants compared to the double-digit increases seen in 2022 and 2023.”
