Back to all Blog 04 February 2025

Buyer demand sinks in PCL as non-dom uncertainty persists

The wrong end of the telescope is being looked down in relation to foreign investers

Agents are reporting a subdued start to the year for Prime Central London’s property market. The number of new prospective buyers registering with the top-end estate agency in London in the second half of 2024 was -8% below the five-year average, while the number of offers made was down -11% over the same period. This despite latest research suggests “a strong relative value argument for buyers” in Prime Central London right now.

Average prices in PCL are down by -18% since the last peak in August 2015, having dipped by another -0.8% in the year to January. That slight annual decline does, however, represent an improvement on the -2.3% price drop through 2023. The wrong end of the telescope is being looked down in relation to foreign investors, much of the blame for the capital’s torpid luxury housing market is directed at the Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The wrong end of the telescope is also being looked down in relation to foreign investors,” warn agents, as they lambasts the Government’s latest take on non-doms and other jetset taxation. Making overseas trusts subject to UK inheritance tax is a “red line” for many internationally-minded HNWI’s, they argue, citing a survey by Oxford Economics. “Until the inheritance tax issue is addressed, expect more media stories about foreign investors leaving the UK for places like Italy, Switzerland and the Middle East,” he says. Article originally sourced from @primeresi.

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