The Spear’s 500

‘There’s something about me that quite likes a tough market sometimes – it gets rid of a lot of chaff,’ says James Forbes, a director at Strutt & Parker. ‘Your knowledge has to be absolutely A1.’ Asked how the firm copes with the competition from Savills and Knight Frank, he says: ‘We’re now owned by BNP Paribas, and we’re the UK affiliate for Christie’s: we have a lot of access to private wealth around the world.’ Forbes says the £10-50 million range has been pretty buoyant, but he notes headwinds for sellers of traditional townhouses. ‘You can be in a historically prestigious address but it doesn’t have a swimming pool or services. It’s affecting prices.’

Set up in 2002, Charles McDowell Properties has been a fixture of the property landscape ever since. ‘We’ve always sold and always bought, so we’ve seen a lot of fluctuations,’ explains McDowell. The firm is noted for off-market deals – an approach he knows is sometimes pooh-poohed. ‘They work because the market is quite random and people don’t want to have their properties seen hanging around,’ he counters. It’s a nimble, and personalised offering – and it’s working. ‘My criticism of the bigger agents is that they’re not so readily available. Clients will call us at the weekend, and at night,’ says McDowell, who is extremely connected in the Middle East and Far East.

Geoff Wilford will celebrate 20 years in the prime central London market this year. He sold ‘in excess’ of £200 million worth of property between 2006 and 2009 before launching his own firm in 2011 with Simon Welfare, and is one of the most sought-after agents in the local area. Significant deals of the past 12 months include a house in Portland Road ‘just shy’ of £7 million and a penthouse on Earl’s Court Square for close to £3 million, in ‘a very good sale for the client’. Despite the uncertainty of Brexit, Wilford is bullish: ‘We’ve got some incredible stock, some beautiful property to sell. We’ve got quite a few interested parties in the products we’re selling.’

‘The two big months in the property market were June and July of last year,’ says Alex Christian, director of Savills’ London private office. With £250 million of sales logged by Savills’ Sloane Street and Knightsbridge outfits, he says 2018’s success was down to the fact that his clients – who usually look to spend more than £20 million – are ‘totally Brexit-proof’. Furthermore, with the pound weak there is an influx of US money. However, he adds: ‘People aren’t playing the market because they want to make a quick buck.’ Rather, they are viewing property primarily as a place to live, and a safe place to hold capital long-term.