Prime Central London Sales & Lettings Market Report | Q1 2025

Prime Central London is running on two tracks. Letting volumes are lighter, yet achieved rents per square foot keep rising. Sales transactions are up on last year, but buyers are disciplined and discounts are common. This snapshot pulls out what matters so you can act, not guess.

What you need to know

Lettings have fewer deals, but higher achieved rents.
Transactions fell 14.5% quarter-on-quarter and 25.2% year-on-year, yet rents rose +2.2% QoQ and +5.9% YoY. Average weekly rents now sit at flats £1,052 and houses £2,594. Stock is tighter (-11.5% YoY), about a third of listings have reduced asking rent (34.1%), and it’s taking 96 days on average to let. The top end is a large slice of the market (35.5% of stock listed above £2,000/wk). Achieved rents averaged £60.66 per sq ft, up from £57.29 a year ago.

What this means for landlords..
There aren’t many high-quality rentals coming up, so even with fewer deals, the best homes still achieve strong prices. If your flat is dated or poorly presented, expect pushback and longer voids. If it’s bright, recently refreshed and correctly priced, it moves.

Sales activity is higher, but pricing is a negotiation.
Average achieved price stands at £1,251 per sq ft (-3.9% YoY) with +14.4% YoY more sales. The typical discount from initial asking is 8.9%. Flats are down 5.5% YoY while houses are up 6.6% YoY. Achieved averages: flats ~£1.28m, houses ~£3.45m. 65.2% of listings have been on the market over 3 months, and 50.2% have been reduced at least once. Over five years, flat prices are 4.3% lower.

What that means in sellers.
Homes that are freshly refurbished, well laid out, with good light and a strong street sell quickly. Dated flats with awkward layouts or weak outlook linger and need reductions. Houses in the best micro-pockets hold up; buyers still pay for fundamentals.

Micro-location still rules.
The exact street, aspect and position matter. A quiet, south-facing flat on a well-kept street in SW7 will beat a similar-sized unit on a noisier road two blocks away. Pricing needs to reflect those differences.

Supply is the swing factor for both Letting and Selling.
Lettings instructions have been thin, supporting rents even as activity slows. On the sales side, more choice gives buyers leverage to negotiate unless the home is genuinely best-in-class.

Key dates

Q1 2025 data window: January–March cut, with spring briefings confirming the same patterns into April/May.

Next checkpoint: Q2 update after the summer cycle; watch stock flow, discount depth and time-on-market.

How to be ready

Landlords: price precisely and present properly.
Set the rent to match recent, like-for-like lets on your street or building. Fix small defects, deep-clean, and use clear, bright photos. Keep EICR, smoke/CO alarms and EPC up to date so you don’t lose weeks after an offer.

Sellers: launch within the evidence.
Start within 5–10% of comparable achieved sales nearby. Have the legal pack, lease details and service-charge figures ready before listing. Pre-empt buyer scrutiny on fabric, noise and layout with simple fixes or quotes.

Buyers and renters: use time-on-market intelligently.
Move fast on best-in-class houses. On older flats or listings that have sat for months or been reduced, negotiate firmly; the data supports it.

Everyone: measure, don’t guess.
Compare against three or four recent, similar transactions within a short walk. If your number is far above those, expect a long wait or a reduction later.