An unfortunate combination of political unrest, high inflation and multiple interest rate rises has put a dampener on the London property market, just as it had seemingly recovered from the turmoil caused by Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.
This has made sellers, especially those in the prime bracket, opt for a cautious approach, leading many to operate ‘off market’.
Current predictions are that around 25% of London properties valued above £1m are sold off market, whilst that figure doubles to 50% for homes valued over £5m and up to 80% in the £10m plus bracket.
This demonstrates that there is still a lot of activity in the market, be it in the public eye or behind closed doors. There is certainly a perception from some that by operating off market sellers are unconfident about the price they can achieve on the open market, however, it is much more nuanced than that.
In the prime sector, especially between £3 million to £10 million+, there is not a huge pool of buyers flooding in with offers. They are there but it can at times be damaging to leave your home on the market when there are only a handful of people that could and would realistically have the means to complete a purchase. Good agents will be advising their clients about this and that will be a key reason why the ‘off market’ has never been as busy.
From our perspective at Anderson Rose, we handle some big-ticket statement homes that we can almost pinpoint the perfect buyer, we may even have them in our little black book, but it’s all about timing.
They may have just bought something else, wider events impacting the market may be making them more cautious or they could be based overseas and not due in town for a few months. All of these factors come in to play when assessing the situation with a new instruction and it’s crucial for our reputation and success as a business that we provide the most informed and honest advice to our clients.
Therefore, selling a home off-market is not about hiding in the shadows it’s about the art of the deal and finding the best buyer at the best time and it takes a skilled agent to operate in this arena.
We only market a small selection of our listings off market, but when we do, we often see excellent results. In 2022, we made two off-market sales for close to £2 million. This year, we currently have three properties available off-market and this includes two statement penthouses worth over £15 million and that are suitable for a very specific type of buyer.
If anyone is going to bring them in discretely it’s our team of experts at Anderson Rose.
With offices in prime locations, such as London’s historic district of Shad Thames and in the heart of Prime Central London, Anderson Rose possesses astute local knowledge that provides an invaluable tool to buyers and sellers alike, with the team able to provide a personally tailored service for all clients.
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