After more than a year, prices have finally levelled out in prime central London, while outer London saw a small uptick in high-end prices from the previous quarter
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The first quarter of the year brought some long-awaited signs of recovery in London’s luxury housing market, offering the first positive quarterly price growth since September 2022, according to a report from Savills on Wednesday.
After six consecutive quarterly price falls, luxury home prices in central London leveled out in the first three months of the year, with a 0.1% quarterly uptick in prices. The £3 million to £5 million (US$3.79 million to US$6.32 million) market saw a slightly larger increase of 0.3%.
Outer London’s luxury market saw greater quarterly price growth, with home prices up 0.8%, as some stability returned to mortgage costs and lured more buyers back to the market, according to the report.
All of this is evidence that the market is “in early stages of recovery,” according to Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills.
“The outlook for the housing market has certainly improved, partly because the mortgage market has recovered more quickly than expected,” Cook said in the report. “With the first rate cut rapidly coming into view and recessionary risks easing, greater stability has returned to the cost of mortgage debt, which has positively impacted domestic prime markets, where many buyers rely on borrowing, most notably in leafy outer prime South and West London, as well as the commuter belt.”
Outside of London, prices across the U.K. saw no quarterly growth heading into the beginning of the spring market, which is expected to bring higher levels of buyer activity in many regions.
Suburban regions saw prices dip just 0.1%, while urban areas—like Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Bath and Oxford in England—saw prices increase by 0.6%.
Cook said regional buyers are more likely to be concerned about market uncertainty than London buyers in the leadup to the general election.
“As a result, buyers are still expected to be less committed until the dust has settled,” he said.
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
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Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
