Savills has launched an advertising campaign in national newspapers claiming it sells 40% more £1 million-plus homes than any other agency.

The marketing push by the international property giant, quoting TwentyCi data, could be a sign that the prime London market is lagging behind the rest of the country.

Savills warned in December that high-end property deals will not do as well as other markets over the next five years with new non-dom tax rules set to have a big impact.

Price fall

While the estatea agency forecasted that prices in prime central London will rise by around 10% over the next five years, the firm expects prices to fall by 4% in 2025.

Savills reported strong results last year, but also said that the trajectory of the recovery from 2023 was shallower than anticipated at the start of the year.

Supply low

Meanwhile, Mayfair specialist agency Wetherell is warning that the supply of luxury homes in the area has hit a 10-year low.

And the shortage has triggered a boom in lettings and hotel bookings. The new Mayfair 2025 Residential Market Report analyses sales and lettings data from 2023 and 2024, sourced from LonRes, the Land Registry and Wetherell’s own local market intelligence.

Planning restrictions

Wetherell highlights that buyers from India, the Middle East and Asia prefer to purchase newly built homes in Mayfair that offer ‘lateral living space’, and benefit from hotel style concierge with lifestyle amenities such as a gym, swimming pool and spa,

But new planning restrictions set out by Westminster City Council for the next 20 years prohibit the size of units in a new Mayfair development to a maxiumum of 2,150 sq ft (200 sq m).

These planning changes, combined with rising land, labour and construction material costs have generated a plunge during 2024 in the number of new homes being planned and built in Mayfair.

Prime London sales market off to a bumpy start in 2024