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Nothing is certain except death and taxes,” Benjamin Franklin, the US founding father, once said. Labour may be ahead in the polls but the outcome of the general election remains uncertain.

Echoing other reports from across Prime Central London, buying agency Black Brick has reported its busiest January to date, with a flurry of deals and a book of clients with budgets ranging up to £25mn.

A staggering 71 per cent of buyers in prime central London chose to buy property using cash this year, according to research by the estate agency Savills.

Bargain-hunting home buyers have caused a spike in “gazundering”, a tactic when a buyer makes a lower offer at the eleventh hour to force the seller to cut a property’s price.

Falling mortgage rates push up demand but it remains a buyers’ market. Buyers negotiated discounts on 50 per cent of properties sold in 2023. Sellers of UK residential property are expected to rein in lofty price expectations this year as buyers remain cautious despite falling mortgage rates, according to agents and housing market experts.

Prime buying agency Black Brick has seen cash buyers double this year.

Data from the buying agent shows 66% of clients have bought with cash this year, compared with 34% in 2022.

The property and interiors trends we will be taking into 2024, and the ones we will leave firmly behind us.

Sellers in London and the South East are being forced to accept offers of an average of £25,000 below their asking price, according to Zoopla’s latest House Price Index.

2023 has been yet another interesting, and somewhat turbulent, year for the prime central London residential market. 

Mayfair-based Black Brick has sourced 23 properties on behalf of its clients this year, including two “rare treasures” in Chelsea and Knightsbridge – and an apartment overlooking the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Minutes from Parliament at Westminster, 9 Millbank used to be the headquarters of Imperial Chemical Industries, formerly the largest manufacturer in Britain, which once made products such as the acrylic plastic Perspex.

Buyers are sitting on their hands waiting. Waiting to catch that mythical sweet spot between interest rates falling and property prices rising.