Magic of Mayfair

Abode2 explore the latest data from luxury estate agents, Wetherell, finding that +£10M trophy home sales is leading to new homes, penthouses & mansions demand soar in Mayfair

Mayfair’s ultra-prime residential property market is booming with the sale of homes valued above £10 million rising by 30%, top values hitting £9,000 per square foot and the value of Mayfair penthouses, houses and mansions outperforming the rest of Prime Central London; these are some of the findings of the latest Wetherell Mayfair Market Report which says that the top end of the Mayfair property market is undergoing a boom in demand not seen since the roaring 1920s.

The new Mayfair: The Return of the Roaring 1920s survey by Wetherell compares 2021 Mayfair sales figures with those for 2020 using LonRes data, Wetherell sales information and local market intelligence. The survey found that the sale of Mayfair homes priced above £10 million rose by 30% in 2021 – and now accounts for 10% of the Mayfair market - and over 2020 and 2021 Mayfair had more luxury home sales valued above £15 million (10 deals) than any other postcode in Prime Central London.

Mayfair sales now average £2,077 per square foot, significantly above the average of £1,460 achieved for the rest of Prime Central London, with the highest Mayfair sales for 2021 now hitting £9,000 per square foot (at No.1 Grosvenor Square), a new price record for the district only exceeded elsewhere in the capital by a solitary one-off £11,000 per square foot deal achieved in London’s Whitehall.

Historically London’s highest pound per square feet values have been achieved in Knightsbridge along the southern boundary of Hyde Park, but the record figures in Mayfair and Whitehall during 2021 underline how the focus for super prime deals has now shifted to the eastern boundary of Hyde Park and beyond with Mayfair and Whitehall now being the hub for the capital’s top per square foot figures.

The survey highlights that back in 2015 the highest values in Mayfair were £4,500 per square foot, this rose to £7,000 per square foot by 2017 and £8,000 per square foot in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 top values dipped to £6,000 per square foot, but during 2021 they have rebounded dramatically back to a record £9,000 per square foot. Wetherell forecast that during 2022 and 2023 Mayfair’s top values will hit £10,000 per square foot. The rise in record values is an indication of the underlying strength and robustness of the Mayfair property market.

Further evidence of the boom at the top end of Mayfair property market can be seen in the dramatic rise in the average values of penthouses (four-bedroom apartments) and houses. In 2021 Mayfair penthouses sold for £4,306 per square foot, a rise of 60% compared to the £2,729 per square foot values achieved in 2020, and likewise Mayfair houses are now selling for £2,945 per square foot, a rise of 50% compared to £2,044 per square foot values achieved in 2020.

During 2021 Wetherell were agents on two of Mayfair’s biggest trophy mansion deals. The first was the sale of the £35 million listed Naval Club on Hill Street which was purchased by a Middle Eastern buyer after a bidding war with a Russian billionaire. The 17,000 square foot property will now be refurbished into a private home which could be worth up to £100 million on completion.

The second sale was a £26.5 million listed townhouse with one of Mayfair’s largest private gardens which has sold to a billionaire buyer who wanted a tophy home with a W1 postcode.

Wetherell highlight that the biggest buyers by country of origin currently in Mayfair are Indian, American, Middle East and domestic UK buyers with the ultra-high-net-worth purchasers wanting homes that are over 2,000 square feet in size and ideally either houses with gardens/terraces or three or four bedroom apartments or penthouses. This desire for space and an abundance of bedrooms is why the very top of end of the Mayfair market is booming.

Wetherell draw comparisons between the wealth creation and surge in real estate and luxury spending during the early 1920s and what is happening in 2021 and 2022. Like now, the early 1920s saw the world emerging from a global pandemic (the Spanish flu of 1918 to 1920) yet the Edwardian-era railroad, shipping and steel tycoons had made record amounts of money and spent it on penthouses, mansions, private yachts, artwork and jewellery.

Likewise currently, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s super-rich have made record amounts of wealth with a boom in on-line retailing, virtual meetings and transactions and computer games/video. Over the last 12 months the UK now has a record 171 UK billionaires, 24 more than in 2020, the biggest jump in 22 years. Their combined fortune is £597 billion, a jump of 22% on 2020. The majority of these billionaires have a home in London.

Wetherell say that like the 1920s multi-millionaires who wanted to celebrate life post-pandemic the billionaires of 2022 are spending on new homes, yachts, artwork and other trophy assets, fuelled by access to plentiful supplies of credit supplied by banks and other lenders who want money invested in valuable assets rather than sitting unused in low-interest accounts.

During 2022 and 2023 Wetherell say that large lateral apartments and penthouses providing three or four bedrooms and houses with gardens will be the Mayfair homes that will be the highest demand and are likely to achieve the highest sales values and enjoy best asset value performance.

Wetherell are currently marketing The Bryanston, a super-prime development of 54 large lateral apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows, providing up to six bedrooms, located at the northern end of Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park, with prices starting from £2.6 million. Wetherell say that the three to six bedroom apartments in the development are a good example of the type of luxury homes currently in high demand in Mayfair and the West End.

The crescent shaped façade of The Bryanston and the large full-height windows allowing residents to feel as though they are suspended above Hyde Park. Residents also benefit from two floors of 5-star hotel-like amenities including a 25m swimming pool, spa, a state-of-the-art gym, private cinema and secure underground valet parking.

Peter Wetherell, Founder & Chairman of Wetherell says: “During the early 1920s the luxury property market in Mayfair boomed as the Edwardian super-rich enjoyed huge wealth accumulation and wanted to enjoy their earnings and celebrate life after the constraints of WWI and the Spanish Flu pandemic. Now in 2021 and 2022 we are seeing a similar boom in billionaire wealth and emergence from a pandemic and like the 1920s we are seeing penthouses and mansions in Mayfair selling well and rising dramatically in value.”

www.wetherell.co.uk