One would be forgiven for assuming that a combination of Londoners heading for the country and far fewer overseas buyers reaching our shores in 2020 would have had a serious impact on both activity and prices in prime London last year. Yet the sales market has been resilient, with the number of homes put under offer on a par with 2019 and sales volumes just shy of 14% lower.

Prices too ended the year up on last year and the total spent on all transactions in 2020 was just 6% lower than in the previous year. The lettings market had a much busier end to the year in 2020 than many expected, with the number of new lets up 19% in the fourth quarter. This is a trend landlords will be hoping continues into 2021, in order to absorb some excess stock and limit further falls in achieved rents and increases in voids experienced in the latter part of 2020.