In London’s super-prime lettings market at the moment, serviced apartment properties ranging from £5,000 per month to something closer to £40,000 are ever more popular, with lettings often arranged off-market.
Those willing to pay include wealthy families unsure if they want to relocate full-time, high-paid employees on short-term foreign contracts and students, as renting provides the flexibility that a purchase can’t give.
According to the lettings manager at Beauchamp Estates’ Mayfair office, tenants are particularly willing to pay premium rents in “serviced apartment buildings providing 5-star hotel style amenities, and large houses set in generous gardens”.
There has been a dramatic drop off in investment for prime central London homes, as onlookers wait to see the policy environment over which the new Labour government is likely to preside.
This environment has pushed potential buyers towards prime tenancies, instead.
Stamp duty on a £20m super-prime home is just under 12 per cent, around £2.3m – equivalent to years of renting a super-prime property.
