‘You can’t give away Knightsbridge’: Mansion prices sink as rich flee Britain
Average prices in Knightsbridge have fallen to £1,903 per sq ft – the lowest level in 15 years - iStockphoto Properties in one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods are the cheapest they have been in 15 years as wealthy overseas buyers flee from Labour’s raid on the rich.
Average prices in Knightsbridge have fallen to £1,903 per sq ft, according to Savills. It marks the lowest level since December 2010, when mansions changed hands at an average of £1,836 per sq ft.
Becky Fatemi, of Sotheby’s, said: “At the moment, you can’t give away Knightsbridge. We’ve also got a house on Craven Street just off Covent Garden at £1,000 per foot, for a freehold, by the Corinthia. That’s nuts.”
Lucian Cook, of Savills, said the slump had been driven by cooling demand from wealthy international buyers. The rich have been rocked by Labour’s recent changes to inheritance tax on non-doms, increased stamp duty on second homes and VAT on private schools.
The threat of a wealth tax is only likely to add to concerns among this group. Labour’s union backers have been pushing the party to adopt the policy to help pay for welfare spending.
‘Hardly any buyers’
Home to luxury stores such as Harrods, five-star hotels and grand Victorian residences, Knightsbridge has a long-held reputation as one of London’s richest and most sought-after areas. It has been a magnet for wealthy international investors looking for a property in the capital.
Knightsbridge is home to luxury stores including Harrods - Wirestock/iStock Editorial However, many residents in Knightsbridge and nearby Kensington are now selling up.
Non-dom millionaire Magda Wierzycka recently wrote in The Telegraph that she was struggling to sell her flat in Kensington “because so many like me are leaving there are hardly any buyers”.
A record 16,500 millionaires are expected to leave the UK this year because of those tax rises, a recent study by Henley & Partners has estimated. They are flocking to low tax enclaves such as Dubai and Monaco.
Mr Cook said: “You don’t have anything like the same depth of overseas global wealth focused on the central London markets.
“That’s meant it’s opened up to more domestic buyers, but they just don’t have the same buying power as those international buyers, [causing] a rebalancing of the market.”
As a result, prices in some plush parts of central London are now comparable to well-heeled suburban outskirts.
Ms Fatemi said: “The price on a generously sized garden square apartment in Hyde Park Square has just been reduced to £1,428 a foot. You’ve got Wimbledon more expensive than that now.”
Anthony Payne, of LonRes, said: “Knightsbridge has fallen out of favour [and] is reaching a point … where it starts to look cheap.”
He highlighted two properties where you could “probably throw a cricket ball at Harrods” that recently sold for a price per sq ft “you’d almost be paying in Kilburn”.
繼續閱讀“It’s a line in the sand – that’s got to represent good value,” he said.
Separate findings by property company JLL show prices in Knightsbridge have dropped by 10pc over the past five years.
Marcus Dixon, of JLL, said: “People who think they can’t afford anything in central London might find the differential is not as wide as they thought.”
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The hustle and flight of wealthy individuals from the UK has resultantly triggered a decline in Mansion prices, echoing through an old adage: 'You can’t give away Knightsbridge'.
