14th January 2026
10mins
The average discount achieved by Black Brick’s clients this year was 8%, up from 3.8% at the peak of the market in 2014.
Excellent deals can be done in an anxious and highly price-sensitive market, and as a result, we saved our clients an average £612,386 against asking price during 2025.
Back in 2014, at the peak of the market when buyers from around the world were out in force in Prime Central London, the average discount was less than half that – a comparatively modest £197,020.
The rise in off market sales is also significant, highlighting the importance of professional representation. In 2025, 73% of acquisitions we did above £3,000,000, were off market, up from 50% in 2014.
In terms of location, the West End (W1) was the most popular place to live in 2025, accounting for 22% of Black Brick’s sales in neighbourhoods from Mayfair to Marylebone. In second place, with 18% of sales, was W2 – the postcodes spanning the historically rather unfashionable districts north of Hyde Park.
“Mayfair has become much more trendy in the past decade,” said Camilla Dell, managing partner of Black Brick. “It has had a real renaissance, with Mount Street now one of the best in London, and the beautification of North Audley Street and Grosvenor Square. It has also had some really prime new developments like Lodha’s No 1 Grosvenor Square and Finchatton’s 20 Grosvenor Square. In 2014, it was more a business district, not somewhere to buy a cool flat.”
In fact, in 2014, Black Brick’s buyers were far more focussed on traditional prime postcodes, notably Kensington (W8), with 16% of sales, and Chelsea (SW3), with 12% 
of sales.
Another change of pace, is how traditional aesthetics have seeped back into prime property – in 2014 new builds were the most popular, accounting for 56% of our sales with buyers who wanted to enjoy all mod cons in their turnkey homes. That trend has turned around completely, with 84% of our buyers preferring the original features and charm that comes with a period home.
One reason for this change is that more of our buyers in the past year have been purchasing a home for themselves – 89% were owner occupiers. In 2014, 40% of our buyers were picking up investment properties or apartments to flip pre-completion and were perhaps more concerned with easy management and the ability to turn a profit than aesthetics.
“New builds might have gone out of favour in this weaker market, because people are looking for value for money,” said Dell. “Not only do you have to pay a premium for a new home, but they also come with very high service charges.”
American buyers were at the fore in 2025, accounting for 22% of our sales, as they sought to invest outside of Donald Trump’s USA. British buyers narrowly held on to their dominance, accounting for 27% of sales down from 40% in 2014. The remaining 51% of Black Brick buyers were a global mix, hailing from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia.
Within living memory, a seven-figure budget would have bought you almost any home you wanted in central London.
Today, £1,000,000 is a very modest starting point in fashionable central London neighbourhoods, and will barely stretch to a compact family house, even in the leafy suburbs.
In Mayfair and Knightsbridge, according to exclusive research for Black Brick by property analyst LonRes, a £1,000,000 budget would buy you a studio apartment measuring just 417 sq ft in Mayfair, or an almost equally cosy 485 sq ft in Knightsbridge.
You might just stretch to a one bedroom flat in Belgravia (£1,000,000 = 556 sq ft), or Marylebone (£1,000,000 = 596 sq ft).
If space is your priority, then better bets are Notting Hill, where £1,000,000 will buy you 640 sq ft, Kensington (647 sq ft), or Chelsea (684 sq ft).
In most prime outer London neighbourhoods, your notional £1,000,000 will purchase either a very spacious apartment or a small house. The most expensive floorspace is to be found in Hampstead, where £1,000,000 will buy an 835 sq ft property.
If you are prepared to look further south, then you could get between 1,000 and 1,200 sq ft in Fulham, Battersea, Balham, Chiswick, Dulwich, Clapham, or Putney.
And the best value for money of all is to be found in Wimbledon, where £1,000,000 will secure 1,359 sq ft, which translates to a three bedroom terrace or semi.
Marylebone has emerged as the outperforming price growth hotspot of the past year, according to exclusive research for Black Brick by property analyst LonRes.
Despite a myriad of headwinds, from anxiety about November’s budget to global political instability to relatively high interest rates deterring many buyers, the W1U postcode heads a top ten league table of price gro
wth, with values up by a resounding 9.6% in the past year, to an average £2.4m.
It has been a strong year for the West End, with prices in south Mayfair (W1J) increasing by 5.9%, to an average £4.5m. Also enjoying above-inflationary price growth was east Mayfair (W1S), with prices up 5.6% to an average £3.5m.
While the heart of London has flourished, the picture is much more muted elsewhere. Locations seeing sub 2% price growth – but which still made the top ten – include: Pimlico (SW1V), Marble Arch (W1H), Paddington and Bayswater (W2), Notting Hill (W11), Chelsea (SW3), and South Kensington (SW7).
And Westminster (SW1P) took tenth place on the list – despite enduring average sale price falls of 2% to an average £1.8m.
When it comes to property investment, resilience is key. Locations with a proven track record of coming back from the brink are savvy places to house hunt.
London’s property market has had a torrid decade, what with tax hikes, Brexit, the pandemic, global instability, and the cost of living crisis. In an unpredictable world, these are the London locations which have shown the greatest ability to bounce back after a shock.
In 2016, London’s property market was hit by a double whammy: a 3% Stamp Duty surcharge on the purchase of second homes, which pushed the rate up to a maximum 15%, and the Brexit referendum.
Property values plunged as a result and by the end of the year, Knight Frank was reporting annual price falls of 6.3%.
Since then, some locations, from Soho to Chelsea, remain firmly in the doldrums.
The best performer is Marylebone, where average prices today are 6.7% higher than they were in 2016 at £2.2m. “Buyers love Marylebone because it is incredibly central, it has got a really good high street and café culture, and it is relatively close to Regent’s Park,” said Tom Kain, a partner at Black Brick. “It is a real central-London village and that is very appealing.”
Dell said that the local landowners, notably the Portman and Howard de Walden estates, have done a fantastic job of curating and rebranding Marylebone, once dismissed as a no-man’s-land on the fringes of Soho, into an aspirational neighbourhood with a unique character. Meanwhile developers like Ronson Capital Partners’ Chiltern Place, set new standards in luxury apartments in this part of London. “That building has defied gravity,” said Dell. “There is a waiting list of people who want to buy there, and they recently sold a three bedroom eighth floor apartment for just under £5,000 per sq ft.”
Other strong performers post-2016 were Mayfair and St James’s with prices up 5.6% to £4.5m. Hampstead saw prices rise 4.7% to £1.85m.
While 2016 was a tough year for the London market, worse was to come. In the early pandemic, partly fuelled by a Stamp Duty holiday and partly by buyers’ desire for more space, property prices briefly soared. But since 2022, a change in Government, anxiety over property tax changes, and high moving costs have together conspired to whittle away any gains across PCL and prime outer London.
But there was one exception. Bayswater and Maida Vale, with its period townhouses, leafy streets, good local shops, and green spaces is the only prime location where prices today are higher than they were during the 2022 peak, with prices up by 1.7% to an average £1.8m.
Kain believes this is partly because the area is one of the most affordable in prime London, and thus has a wider pool of potential buyers than, say, Knightsbridge. It is also in the throes of significant investment, notably the redesigned Paddington Station and a new public square under construction around it, plus upscale developments led by The Whiteley London with its Six Senses hotel and residences. “It appeals to buyers who want to be central, and who have bought into the regeneration story,” said Kain.
Family homes have proved a busy section of the market during 2025. While apartments are often discretionary purchases by buyers looking for a London bolthole or holiday home, houses are bought as long-term investments in family life.
Despite the staying power of houses, properties in London’s best outer prime suburbs have had a mixed 2025, with one of North London’s classic urban villages easily trouncing its rival on the other side of Hampstead Heath.
The study analysed price change across 17 of London’s leafiest suburbs, all selected for their appealing mix of high grade high streets, quality period architecture, good schools, open space, and easy transport links, shows where demand for family properties has stood up to the rigours of the past year.
Leading the pack is Hampstead, with annual house price growth of 10.6%, to an average £3.8m. “Schools have a lot to do with Hampstead’s appeal, because it has some of the best private primary and secondary schools in London,” said Dell. “We get a lot of people who want to sell in Highgate and other areas and move to Hampstead for that reason.”
Hampstead, of course, has plentiful green space, an excellent high street, and a Zone 2 station – for all its village vibes, it is less than half an hour to the West End or City by train.
It is also one of those places that holds a particular appeal for creative types, who have been flocking to live by the heath since it became a fashionable health spa in the 17th century. Today’s crop of stars living in NW3 include Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, and, most recently, Hollywood stars Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, and media coverage of their lives shines the same kind of international spotlight on Hampstead as on the Cotswolds.
Beyond Hampstead, strong price growth, of just over 9%, was also enjoyed in Chiswick (£1.6m), Muswell Hill (£1.5m), and Putney (£1.3m). This indicates a preference for busy, well serviced neighbourhoods with a wide range of independent and chain stores, supermarkets and shopping centres, as well as amenities from cinemas to private members’ clubs to padel courts. It is also notable that all these locations offer the opportunity to buy a family house for sub £2,000,000.
The biggest loser of the year was charming Highgate with its lower key high street and expensive real estate by Zone 3 standards – with prices down 15.2% to an average £2.2m. Dell believes Highgate’s key issue is location – it is five miles north of central London and out in Zone 3. “The traffic getting into London is awful,” she said.
Dulwich and Islington, both saw price falls of 14% to £1.1m and £1.6m respectively, although overall average price change disguises the many micro markets at work in London’s neighbourhoods. Kain points out that there is a difference between a prime house in Dulwich Village, which would sell for up to £6,000,000 and would usually attract competitive bidding, and a workaday terrace out in North Dulwich, further from the area’s shops, restaurants, and top performing schools. “In the best locations, houses rarely come onto the market and when they do, there is a queue of people,” he said.
We would be delighted to hear from you to discuss your own property requirements. For a non-obligatory consultation, please contact us.
