With Easter falling early in April, many people took the opportunity to get in some late-season skiing or early sun and, as to be expected, the market quietened for a few weeks. The shortage of property earlier in the year was rectified however and by the end of the month supply of property was at an historical norm, which elicited buyers as they had a good selection of homes to purchase or rent.

Notable sales in April, both concluded with existing Mayfair residents, included an apartment in one of Grosvenor Square’s finest buildings (£1.975m) and a record price for a Mayfair Village mews house on a 16-year lease (£795,000).

The demand for rental property increased during April with good quality and realistically priced apartments readily finding tenants.

Terms were agreed for a large two bedroom Mount Street flat (£975 per week) whilst the landlord was still having the carpets fitted and in St. James’s, Wetherell successfully let within 6 weeks all the available flats in a period building next door to St. James’s Palace (£475pw - £1,800pw).

With the launch of two new developments, May was a busy month for Wetherell.

38 Upper Grosvenor Street, after major reconstruction and in keeping with the majestic architecture of the stone façade, now provides just four apartments - three lateral apartments and a spectacular triplex of over 3,000 sq. ft. at prices from £2,500,000.

Elsewhere, the fourteen apartments at the 21st on Davies Street were released on a balmy summer evening and by the end of the month 11 flats of this £37M development were either sold or reserved. This included one of the penthouses, which created a new ‘super level’ for genuinely exceptional properties of over £1,700 per square foot.

The trend for record prices slowed but competitively priced property continued to sell and in some cases resulted in competitive bidding, often leading to a sale in excess of the asking price.

June saw the second successive 0.25% rise in interest rates, which now stand at 4.5%, and the Governor of The Bank of England in a speech to the CBI said "…the chances of falls in house prices are greater than they were."

Determining meaningful data for residential property in Mayfair is not easy; the diversity of property (location, condition, length of lease and desirability are some mitigating factors) can make truly comparative analysis difficult. Evaluating property in terms of £ per square foot is at best representative and at worst misleading.

None the less, data shows that compared to the same quarter last year, the number of sales in Mayfair this quarter is up (2003 – 20 sales, 2004 – 23 sales) and by tracking the prices achieved for 2 bedroom flats in a particular Mayfair Village apartment building reveals the price rises illustrated in the graph below - it is worth noting that the price rises are against diminishing leases which now stand at circa 35 years.