The current ups and downs of the stock market once again brings into question the continued buoyancy of the property market especially in the prime residential areas of central London. Is it now also a bad time to buy property? Well to paraphrase John Wayne, - "The hell it is!" Now is a better time to invest in bricks and mortar than a share certificate. Affordability is still the key issue and once again the long quoted idiom of "location, location, location" is our best advice in purchasing residential property.

To this effect where better than Mayfair, one of London's original premier locations geographically bounded, architecturally intact and strictly zoned as an area of historical significance. Added to this is the continued scarcity of properties available and the market awareness that Mayfair has once again returned to be one of the prime residential areas of London due to the reversion of so many buildings in former business occupation back to their original residential use as houses, flats and maisonettes.

In the late 80s Wetherell had on their database between 160 and 180 properties available for sale in the Mayfair area. This dropped considerably through the recession of the early 90s to between 110 and 130 properties available for sale. (This correlates with the general sales pattern for England and Wales for figures released by the Land Registry which quotes a turnover of nearly two million transactions a year in 1987 and only one million transactions a year in 1990).

In this incredibly active and bullish market it is therefore surprising that on our database at the present time there are only 70 properties currently available! (This may not be surprising when you look to the fact there will probably only be 1.4 million sales in England and Wales for this year).

We are therefore not dealing with a bullish market in volume terms merely a supply and demand incompatibility with an unsatisfied pool of purchasers competing with cash or readily available finance for the prime properties.

Mayfair has been undervalued to the likes of Chelsea, Kensington and Notting Hill, but both purchasers and tenants are beginning to realise that Mayfair is the place to invest and to rent. Resident parking spaces are easy to find, taxis are abundant, transportation to the City and Docklands with the new Jubilee line is easy from Bond Street and the Gatwick and Heathrow Express are five minutes away in a taxi. The weekends are quiet and the world's best shops, restaurants and hotels on your doorstep. The green open spaces of Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park provide residents with the gardens they lack.

Wetherell are currently marketing one-bedroom flats in Shepherd Market for £350 per week and in Mount Street for £375 per week, both ideal for the single corporate tenant. Also on offer is a superb two bedroom flat on Berkeley Street, close to Green Park, The Ritz and Sainsbury's, the flat has wooden floors throughout, porterage, and is offered at £775 per week. Newly available is a quietly located house in St James's with three bedrooms and a garage for £925 per week.

Amongst the properties at the top end of the market, Wetherell are offering two, three bedroom penthouse apartments with porterage for £1900 pw and £2200 pw and a large townhouse in South Street, ideal for entertaining at £4000 per week.