Hamilton Terrace: Where Victorian Splendour Meets St John’s Wood Elegance
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Aston Chase recently sold six big-ticket North London homes to wealthy American families, as dollar-toting buyers took advantage of currency discounts.
Marlborough Place family home, sold by Aston Chase to an American buyer
Another top-end property broker has trumpeted an “influx” of American buyers, driven by – amongst other things – the strength of the dollar and the weakness of the pound, which is providing a chunky currency discount for many overseas buyers.
North London estate agency Aston Chase recently handled a near-£50mn run of luxury property deals to American buyers, selling six family homes in the St John’s Wood area to dollar-toting house-hunters.
This is not a new trend. Luxury brokers including Daniel Daggers and Berkshire Hathaway’s Kay & Co heralded the return of American buyers to Prime Central London back in 2019. But international deals paused during the pandemic, before coming back with some vim in 2022 – then being turbo-charged by sterling’s currency rollercoaster following Theresa May’s mini-Budget.
Research by Hamptons tells us that the proportion of PCL deals involving US buyers surged to 7% last year, up from just 5% in pre-pandemic 2019. And data from Beauchamp Estates and LonRes indicate record amounts were spent by American billionaires in London through 2022. More anecdotally, Nest Seekers saw a 50% jump in enquiries from US buyers at the end of last year, while some trophy homes were re-launched to the market to specifically target America’s super-rich.
Back to this year in St John’s Wood.
Aston Chase has handled six big-ticket family home sales in the last few months, all to American buyers. The estate agency suggests these buyers enjoyed a currency discount of nearly 30% on their London property purchases.
But it’s not all about the money. At least one of the sales was driven expressly by the buyer’s need to be close to the American School in London (ASL), in Regent’s Park.
The buyer of this “toothbrush ready” four-bedroom, 2,098 sq ft home on Hamilton Gardens moved from San Francisco to be near the ASL – agreeing the deal over the phone on the day the pound dropped to 1.08 against the dollar thanks to the Kwarteng/Truss Mini Budget.
Aston Chase recently agreed two big deals with American buyers on Marlborough Place: one 4,336 sq ft house was purchased for £6.75mn, by an American family also looking to be close to The ASL. Another 4,758 sq ft five-bed house (pictured above) went for nearly £10mn, having been immaculately refurbished to designs by Marek Wojciechowski in 2015/16 and launched to market at the end of 2022.
There’s still some goos family-size stock around in the area, says Aston Chase – including this Regency-style new-build townhouse in the Hamilton Drive development, which is asking £12.5mn.
Mark Pollack, Co-Founding Director of Aston Chase: “St John’s Wood has always been a popular area due to its beautiful homes and sense of community. It is particularly appealing to families relocating from America wishing to keep their children’s curriculum as consistent as possible which they are able to do thanks to The ASL. We have recently seen a further influx of American buyers encouraged to buy due to the strength of the dollar against the pound. We are delighted to be able to offer buyers a wide variety of St John’s Wood homes all within walking distance of The ASL from ‘toothbrush ready’ accommodation to renovation projects.”
For further information about living in St John’s Wood contact Aston Chase on Tel: +44 (0)20 7724 4724 Email: Aston Chase or visit: 192.168.24.42/astonnewly
Aston Chase | 020 7724 4724
