27th March 2025
8mins
On March 23rd, 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation, urging us all to stay at home to stop the spread of Covid-19. Life, as we knew it, changed overnight. Five years ago we were trying to get to grips from working from home, whilst home schooling in our spare time, googling recipes for banana bread, and wondering if it might be nice to get a puppy.
The pandemic had a profound impact on the property market, which shut down altogether for several weeks as deals fell through, and intrepid buyers began house hunting by video rather than going on in-person viewings.
Many of the big covid trends – the race for space, the great exodus from cities to the country and coast, the impossibility of selling a flat without outside space – are now firmly over and done with.
But some changes endure.
“I think that proximity to a really great local high street has gone up buyers’ wish lists,” said Camilla Dell, managing partner of Black Brick. “Before Covid, the emphasis was on the property itself whereas now, no matter what the budget, people want to be able to walk out of their front doors and have access to really lovely shops and cafes.”
This could mean places like Primrose Hill, Dulwich, Hampstead, or Clapham, where there are plenty of independent shops as well as useful chains. “I think people lost a bit of trust in the chains during the pandemic – supermarket shelves were quite empty, and I think they just got a better service from independent community shops,” said Dell.
Another long lasting trend is the desire for home office space in a world where hybrid working remains the norm.
And Tom Kain, partner at Black Brick, thinks that the experience of the pandemic has made buyers a bit more decisive. “There is a sense that you really don’t know what is around the corner,” he said. “People don’t want to spend two years waiting for a property.”
Average sale prices in prime London inched up during February – the first price rise recorded since the summer of 2023.
According to new research from house price analyst LonRes, prices are up 0.6 per cent in the past year, despite the impact of the eradication of the non dom tax system for wealthy international residents, and now stand just 1.2 per cent below average prices in the immediate run up to the pandemic (2017 to 2018).
There is still some way to go before prices catch up with their pre-pandemic level however. LonRes found that prices in prime central London stand at an average £1,645 per sq ft, down almost 8.8 per cent compared to a decade ago. Prices in prime addresses beyond Prime Central London (PCL) are faring a little better, with prices up a couple of per cent compared to 2015, found LonRes.
And there has been a big jump in activity levels for prime central London homes valued at £5 million or above.
In February, there were 13.8 per cent more transactions than in February 2023, and 33 per cent more than the pre-pandemic average.
Black Brick has certainly had a busy start to 2025, engaged by six new clients last month alone. Dell thinks this is partly because the UK general election and US presidential election have been and gone. And, on this side of the Atlantic at least, the new political order has settled in without too much drama. Last year’s autumn statement broke bad news about tax hikes, but there is a growing sense that the worst is over, for now at least. Interest rates are now on a downward trajectory.
“I also think the idea that it is a buyers’ market at the moment, but that it might not last forever, has begun to trickle down,” said Dell.
Average house prices are an important measure of the health of a housing market – but they are not the only one.
New research by estate agent Knight Frank assesses how far a budget of $1m will take you in a series of global markets – and how that compares to the situation in 2014.
Monaco is – of course – the world’s most expensive place to buy real estate found The Wealth Report. A spend of $1m will buy you just 19 square meters of property, barely enough to swing a cat.
You would get a little more for your money in Hong Kong or Singapore, and London remains one of the world’s highest priced markets with $1m paying for 34 sq meters worth of property – level pegging with New York.
When compared to what you could buy with the same budget back in 2014 both currency fluctuations and price changes come into play.
London is one of only three locations studied where you now get more for your money, alongside New York and Monaco. Everywhere else has seen big declines. Spending $1m in Shanghai back in 2014 would have bought you 83 sq m of floorspace. Today you’d get barely half that, 44 sq m. Value for money has also been cut pretty much in half everywhere from Miami to Lisbon, Dubai, or Berlin.
Meanwhile the flip side of London’s stagnant prices, coupled with the weakness of the GBP versus the USD, is that to overseas buyers the British capital feels like surprisingly good value.
This is driving a rush of buyers from the USA and the Middle East (where currencies tend to be pegged to the dollar) into London.
“London is the natural place for people from the USA to buy because of the shared language, and they just feel at home here,” said Kain, who said many of his current US buyers are keen to escape Donald Trump’s America.
“Thankfully London has always been seen as a safe haven, globally,” agreed Dell.
The Sunday Times’ annual roundup of the best places to live in Britain, has anointed Bloomsbury as the pick of central London.
The rectangle bordered by Euston Road, Gray’s Inn Road, New Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road is certainly well connected and full of elegantly proportioned Georgian streets and squares, and enjoys a rich literary heritage with former residents including Dickens and Darwin, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf.
During the tail end of the 20th century, the neighbourhood became run down and depressed, a traffic logged commercial district far outshone by neighbouring Marylebone, with its carefully curated shops, restaurants, and cafes.
Now, however, Bloomsbury is on the up. The streets are looking cleaner, its open spaces have been smartened up, and the post-war Brunswick Centre has an improving range of shops, as well as a cinema and restaurant has had a £24m facelift.
Fashion brands and restaurants have moved in and there is a flagship Waitrose.
In another sure sign of gentrification, regular farmers markets are now being held too.
Kain feels that buyers need to weigh up the pros and cons of Bloomsbury very carefully. It still feels very commercial, full of law firms and accountancy practices, which means it will likely never achieve Marylebone’s village feel and this may hamper its chances for price growth. For families, it lacks green space, and there are few local schools.
For older buyers and singles, however, it has huge advantages. Lamb’s Conduit Street has a lovely and growing collection of independent shops, and its pricing is appealing.
“You can get the most beautiful, wide, Georgian houses for £5m to £6m, compared to £15m to £20m in PCL,” he said.
You want a three storey aquarium filled with jellyfish to light your hallway? No problem. An art installation featuring models of the Covid virus? Yes, we can.
These are just a couple of the more unusual challenges Black Brick has faced making sure peoples’ homes run like clockwork.
On a more day to day basis we might help get your air conditioning and heating systems regularly serviced, manage a refurbishment for you, arrange gardeners and cleaners, and check in on your property whilst you are out of town. We’ll even have your fridge restocked so that you never return to bare cupboards.
The name of the game is pre-emptive maintenance – not simply waiting until things go wrong and then having to deal with an emergency, but making sure, through regular checks and servicing, that every system works seamlessly. “Usually these properties are quite complicated,” said Dell. “We help them stay ahead of the game.”
If you are interested in how Black Brick can help manage your home or investment property, please contact camilla.dell@black-brick.com
Our clients were already renting in the Marylebone/Fitzrovia neighbourhood and were ready to put down roots. They were after a four bedroom family house and with busy working lives to juggle they didn’t want to have to do any work. They also needed a hand finding the right home.
We found them a newly-converted Georgian townhouse in Fitzrovia, which had period charm plus all modern conveniences, gated security, plus a porter.
A historic home which functions like a new property is a rare find in London and our clients loved the combination.
When it came to negotiating the deal we managed to shave more than £330,000 off the original asking price, a discount of almost eight per cent.
We would be delighted to hear from you to discuss your own property requirements. For a non-obligatory consultation, please contact us.
