14 mega-homes for sale in London's best areas ... if you have £50m

More £50 million-plus mansions in central London have “for sale” boards than at any time on record, a report claims today.

Around £1.7 billion worth of property in the capital’s most elite postcodes are on the market, being prepared for sale or have been sold in recent months.

The rare glut of around 14 mega-homes at the very pinnacle of the London market means there may be a chance to pick up a “bargain” — for buyers with a nine-figure budget at their disposal.

Oliver Hooper, director of Belgravia-based buying agency Huntly Hooper, said: “We have noticed more of these super-prime houses becoming publicly available for sale in the last year and where they used to be kept confidential, details of them have fallen into the public domain as they take longer to sell...

“With this increase in levels of supply, we suspect there may be opportunities to be had for buyers at this level, although we note that the vendors tend not to be in any financial need to sell.”

The homes have an average value of more than £120 million, over 300 times the average property price in London. There are thought to be only about 60 homes worth more than £50 million in the whole of central London.

The list of those on the market ranges from 39 Charles Street, a Grade II* listed Regency Mayfair townhouse on sale for a relatively modest £50 million, up to the vast 2-8a Rutland Gate near Hyde Park, for which the owner is asking a reported £300 million. With only a handful of buyers around the world with the financial resources to afford such hugely expensive trophy homes it can take as much as two years to sell one.

One of the most active players in London’s super-prime market Roman Abramovich has sold his Lowndes Square home for a reported £52 million after originally asking £70 million. He bought a mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens in 2011 with girlfriend Dasha Zhukova for £90 million. The billionaire co-founder of the Phones 4U chain John Caudwell has also been active, paying £81 million last year for a five-bedroom house with ballroom and swimming pool in Mayfair from Prince Jefri, the brother of the Sultan of Brunei.

Giles Hannah, Managing Director at VanHan, said: “During the financial crisis these ultra high net worth individuals took a wait and see approach and decided to stay where they were and do their places up.

“Now we are definitely seeing the green shoots of recovery people are beginning to move again.”