House prices fall over 20% in Kensington & Chelsea

Bloomberg recently reported that:

“House prices in Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster fell by over a fifth to ￡1.07 million and ￡868,000, respectively”.

I have just acquired a property for clients overlooking Hyde Park where the original asking price was 50% higher than the price we paid, so it seems that the market is in free fall… Except both figures are hugely misleading.

Let’s start with Bloomberg. Their story was based on figures from the Office for National Statistics that showed that prices were down over 20% between December 2023 and 2024.

Unfortunately, this stat is incredibly misleading because the ONS bases its figures on the average price of a property sold. So, the average price of a property sold was down 20+%, i.e. there were far fewer ￡10+m properties sold (and the small number of transactions also makes this figure extremely volatile) - that is very different to prices falling 20%!

But what about my clients’ property? Well, while I would like to tell you that I used my immense charm and negotiation skills to achieve a massive discount, I would be lying. In this instance, the property was hopelessly overvalued in the first place. Not the worst I have seen but dreadful, nevertheless.

Unsurprisingly, there were no offers and the price had been steadily falling. In fact, it got to a stage where the agents were struggling to persuade people to view the apartment because buyers could see it had been on the market for a few years and so assumed something was wrong.

But there was nothing wrong with the apartment. It had been fully refurbished to a high standard, is in a beautiful building and great location. The problem was that it had been handled badly by many of the agents over the years (to be fair to the agents, this was probably at the bidding of the seller), so it created an opportunity for us.

In the end, the discount I negotiated from the final guide price was 11%. Frankly, not that inspiring (I should have just told you the 50% figure…) but it was a good opportunity and the ideal property for my clients. So, do not be automatically put off by a property just because it has been on the market for a long time.

Indeed, this is just one of the seven most expensive mistakes property buyers make. So, if you are thinking of acquiring a property in London and would like to:

1.?????? avoid overpaying

2.?????? have first refusal on the best properties

3.?????? get access to the finest off-market opportunities (this is vital irrespective of whether you are planning to acquire a property for ￡1m or ￡100m)

4.?????? discover the tested and proven negotiation techniques that I use so that you can achieve the lowest price possible

5.?????? avoid all the wasted time and bureaucracy involved in acquiring a property

you can request a complimentary, hard-back copy of my book, The Insider’s Guide To Acquiring ￡1m to ￡100m Property in London, by simply clicking here, or calling 02034578855 (+442034578855 from outside the UK).

These easy-to-follow strategies and tactics have been honed by me over the last 23 years. To put that into perspective, I have negotiated hundreds of millions of pounds worth of property acquisitions for my clients, personally inspected over 23,000 properties and studied the details of over 150,000 more.

Yes, you’re right, this does make me very boring, but would it be unfair to suggest that I might have some insights that could help you?

So, if you would like to request a free, hard-back copy of my book, The Insider’s Guide To Acquiring ￡1m to ￡100m Property in London, simply click here, or call 02034578855 (+442034578855 from outside the UK).

Good luck in your search for a property in London.