London’s Luxury Homeowners Who Bought at the Top Aren’t Selling

Only 3% of people who purchased prime properties in 2014 when price growth peaked have sold their homes.

A tree in blossom in view of Grove Hall Court residential building in St John's Wood, London.

Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
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Property owners in prime areas of London who made purchases in 2014 have seen their home values flatline since — and the stalled growth has made them unwilling to sell.

Only 3% of people who bought homes in the 10 most expensive postcodes of London in 2014 — when price growth peaked — have sold their homes in the years since, according to analysis by real estate company Hamptons. That’s much less than the rest of the country, with 11% of 2014 homebuyers in England and Wales having sold their houses and 7% of those in all of London.