Wetherell

We are entering uncharted territory in this slump. Some of the country's smartest estate agents are now landing multimillion-pound properties to sell on the orders of receivers. There is no more forgiveness at the top end of the market than at the bottom. Wetherells, for instance, now has four hefty receivership sales priced at between £1.85m and £5m in the heart of London's Mayfair.

Commenting on the state of play at the upper end of the London market, Shaun Crockett of Mayfair agent Wetherell reveals that 'areas most reliant on demand from works in the financial and business-services sectors, such as Kensington, Holland Park and Notting Hill, have been severely affected this year due to the falls in City employment and earnings, and the high cost of borrowing. But the falls have been less severe in prime central areas such as Mayfair, where established money and international demand dominate.

With a total of 129 properties (17 houses and 112 flats) for sale in Mayfair & St James's, the market would appear to offer a wide selection of properties for buyers to choose from.

The financial hurricanes of the past two months have pushed many of our most beloved urban species to the brink. The rapacious investment banker, the oleaginous Foxtons salesman, the ruinously expensive Russian escort: all are now on the endangered list. But none has seen their habitat battered so mercilessly as the lesser- spotted hedge-fund wife of South Kensington.

The news that the US Embassy is to depart from Mayfair, W1, in favour of Wandsworth, SW8, caused an almost audible sigh of relief to flow from the mansions of Upper Brook Street to Mount Street, home of the hip Scott's restaurant and Christian Louboutin shoe shop.