What £5 million buys in London right now

A budget that once bought a single postcode now buys three very different London lives. A look at the current options.

Five million pounds sits at an interesting seam in the London market: below it, buyers compete for turnkey family houses; above it, buyers begin to pay for provenance. Right now the sum buys one of three lives.

Option one: the prime village house

In South Kensington, Primrose Hill or Hampstead, £5 million buys a good — not grand — five-bedroom Victorian or Georgian family house: around 2,800 to 3,500 square feet, usually with a garden, sometimes with parking, rarely with a lift. This remains the market’s deepest segment and the one where well-advised buyers still find quiet value, particularly on houses needing a two-year programme of works.

Option two: the lateral apartment

The same budget in Chelsea or Belgravia trades house for floor: a serviced or portered building, three or four bedrooms on one level, concierge and often a pool in the basement. Service charges run high, but so does liquidity — lateral apartments in the right buildings remain the easiest prime asset to resell.

Option three: the double life

The quiet trend of the past two years: spend £2.5 to £3 million on the family base in Richmond or Highgate and keep £2 million for a one-bedroom Mayfair or King’s Cross lock-up. Two smaller assets, two neighbourhoods, and no single property carrying the whole family’s London.

Which life is right depends on the decade, not the year — which is why we always ask clients to describe an ordinary week before we describe the options.