Super-rich boost property market with swoop on London's £5m homes

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The total value of £5 million-plus houses sold in the capital between April and June this year was £850 million, estate agency Savills said.

It is the second-highest quarterly figure ever recorded. The most lucrative three months previously was spring 2008, at the tail end of the boom.

In the first seven months of this year, £1.6 billion of homes worth £5 million-plus were sold in areas such as Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden, and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Lucian Cook, director at Savills Research, said prime property would lead a more general market recovery. "We expect activity in London's prime markets will ease in the second half of the year, and with that comes the prospect that prices will soften," he said.

"We estimate prime property will see falls contained to 4.5 per cent in the second half of 2010. It would mean that, after rising 3.6 per cent in the first half, at the end of the year prices will be just one per cent lower than they were at the beginning.

"We expect prime London to lead the second leg of the recovery from 2012. That will filter down into mainstream markets and is one reason why we expect London to outperform the rest of the UK over the next five years."

* Houses and flats for sale: property search

Mr Cook said the top-end London market had been the first to show price growth after the downturn of 2008: "In central London, prime property prices have increased by 17.5 per cent since the bottom of the market, with transaction levels rebounding much more strongly than in the mainstream.

"That has reflected both a rebuilding of wealth among overseas buyers and the view that prime property is a safe haven among affluent domestic buyers."

Last week the Standard reported that a penthouse at the One Hyde Park development was set to be sold for £140 million, making it possibly the dearest apartment in the world.

Trevor Abrahamson of Glentree Estates, which deals with prime property, said: "In the last six months we have sold more trophy properties than in the last two years."

* www.homesandproperty.co.uk