Off-market home sales surged in the British capital in the final three months of 2022, according to U.K. estate agents Hamptons International, accounting for more than one-in-five (22.3%) transactions — its highest percentage on record.
The uptick coincides with a period of turmoil for the U.K. property market, during which lenders pulled hundreds of residential mortgage deals and new homebuyer inquiries plunged following then Prime Minister Liz Truss' chaotic "mini-budget."
Hamptons senior analyst, David Fell, said that led some vendors to "test the water" discretely without leaving a "digital footprint" and potentially hurting future sales prospects.
“Sellers have been increasingly looking to test pricing quietly without leaving a digital footprint, particularly if they chose to take their home off the market with a view to trying again in 6 or 12 months’ time,” he said.
But the figure also marks a continued rise in private property sales in recent years.
Private property sales have almost tripled in London since 2018, when they made up just 8.8% of annual transactions versus 21.2% in 2022, according to the agency. Private sales have also risen nationwide over the period, though to a lesser extent.
London’s luxury real estate market, in particular, has led the off-market trend.
Private sales of £1 million-plus ($1.2 million) homes accounted for almost one-third (32%) of the capital’s total prime real estate transactions in the final quarter of 2022, and 29% over the year, according to Hamptons’ data released last month.
Savills estate agents noted that the “anonymity” of such transactions is especially valued by buyers and sellers of properties in the £20 million-plus range — both in London and the surrounding counties.
“In the last quarter of 2022 in the home counties we did see the overwhelming majority of £20m+ sales being conducted off-market,” Crispin Holborow, country director of The Private Office at Savills, told CNBC via email.
(Source:CNBC)
