With current newspaper headlines stirring up fear of another property boom and bust, it is difficult to imagine a time when significant house price growth in prime central London would have gone completely unnoticed by the media.

Back in 1995, however, an article by Yolande Barnes demonstrates that many of the features of the London market that we now take for granted had initially passed most commentators by.

Interview with Susan Emmett

Key facts:

Job title: Director

Specialisation: Mainstream UK Housing

Years at Savills: 1

About Susan: My engagement with the property world dates back to 2002 when I helped to launch Bricks and Mortar, The Times’ property supplement. As a journalist, I reported on the highs and lows of the housing market before joining Savills Research in 2013.

Q Why was prime central London (PCL) such a mystery?

A Then, as now, house price movements recorded by the building societies focused on the mainstream market which often behaves differently from the very high end.

Q What has changed?

A Though PCL remains a tiny component of the housing market as a whole, fascination with luxury property has shot up faster than house prices as press coverage increased. Back in 1995, column inches devoted to bricks and mortar was limited. Now most newspapers have a property supplement featuring glossy homes.

Q Some things must be the same?

A The mismatch between supply and demand has certainly not improved and central London continues to attract foreign buyers. The cyclical nature of the market remains an issue.

Click the below image to enlarge

Taken from
25 Years of Savills Residential Research (1989 - 2014)