The asking prices of homes for sale in London’s most prestigious areas have been reduced by an average of £223,000, according to Garrington Property Finders.

The buying agents found that the average discount on properties currently for sale is 9%, but in elite enclaves prices have been slashed by 14%.

In total sellers have slashed nearly £1billion off the asking prices of homes currently for sale in London’s 52 most desirable postcodes.

The sharp reductions are in response to a slow market. In January, for exmaple, three quarters of homes for sale in St James’s and Victoria had been on the market for over six months.

Deep discounts

The discounts are greatest in the most expensive areas. In the elite enclave of St James’s and Victoria, prices have been cut by an average of 14.1% or £765,919. Meanwhile in Knightsbridge asking prices have been slashed by 12.1%, equating to an average discount of £927,188.

By contrast at the more affordable end of the prime spectrum, the discounts are smaller. The average reduction on homes currently for sale in both Wandsworth and Kennington is a more modest 6.5%, and in 2017 the average property sold in these areas went for 95% of its original asking price.

Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Garrington Property Finders, said: “2017 was not a year for the faint-hearted in London’s prime property market. Prices fell in many of the most prestigious areas, even if the number of sales was no lower than that of 2016.

“Acute price sensitivity among buyers continues to force sellers to reduce their expectations, and in the most expensive areas this is throwing up some striking discounts.

“The slowing of the capital’s prime market predates Brexit – it was triggered instead by 2015’s punitive increases to the highest rates of Stamp Duty. With the buyers of high value homes facing the prospect of paying hundreds of thousands in tax, vendors are frequently sharing the pain by offering corresponding discounts.”