By Emanuele Midolo.
Black Brick Owner, Camilla Dell was delighted to be interviewed to feature in this new piece for The Times this week, revealing how off-market agents like Black Brick are so many prime property buyers’ secret weapon.
Off-Market Sales Are No Longer the Exception
According to Hamptons International, almost one in ten property sales in Britain last year took place off-market. In London that figure rises to closer to one in four, and higher still — around 29% — for properties worth £1 million or more.
We’ve seen this shift play out directly in our own business. Half of the deals Black Brick advised on last year were off-market, and so far this year that figure has risen to 55%.
As founder Camilla Dell explains, the reasons behind this shift go well beyond simple secrecy:
“It’s a bit like a game of poker, sellers don’t like to show their cards. Privacy, security and confidentiality have probably become more prevalent. There’s more wealth, and more millionaires and billionaires around who don’t want their properties to be advertised. Just for security reasons, having a floorplan online can be a huge risk and a great resource for burglars.”
What a “Black Book” Actually Looks Like
Access to genuine off-market opportunities depends entirely on the strength and breadth of an agent’s network — relationships built over years with selling agents, private investors, developers, family offices and the advisers who sit closest to ultra-high-net-worth individuals. As Dell describes it:
“Private banks, law and accountancy firms, family offices — it’s anyone and everyone working with ultra-high-net-worth individuals.”
At Black Brick, that network extends to a database of 300 buying agents, allowing us to identify and approach precisely the right contacts depending on a client’s specific requirements — an approach that reflects how genuinely bespoke off-market sourcing needs to be for it to work.
Speed Is Often the Real Advantage
Off-market deals aren’t just about discretion — they can also move considerably faster than a conventional sale process. Late last year, we advised an American buyer on the purchase of an £8.75 million flat from developer Nick Candy, with the entire deal finalised within a week.
This kind of pace is only possible because off-market transactions bypass much of the friction of a public sale: there’s no extended marketing period, no need to manage multiple viewings from unqualified buyers, and no risk of a price reduction being visible to the wider market — something that can otherwise undermine buyer confidence in a property before it even reaches serious negotiation.
Our Take
Off-market sourcing has moved from being a niche service for the ultra-wealthy to a central part of how prime property now changes hands in London. For sellers, it offers privacy, security and control over how — and to whom — their home is presented. For buyers, it offers access to opportunities that never reach the open market at all. As wealth continues to concentrate at the top of the market, we expect the proportion of deals transacted this way to keep rising.
Read the article here.