Construction of luxury flats in central London dropped by a quarter last year, with apartments housed in developments dubbed “posh ghost towers” struggling to sell.
New-build starts in the capital in 2017 dropped by 25.4% compared with 2016, according to a report by London Residential Research and the luxury estate agents London Central Portfolio (LCP).
The number of new-build starts fell in seven of the 11 inner London boroughs featured in the study, with a 62% decline in Southwark (where there has been significant development around Elephant and Castle) and 42% falls in Wandsworth (which includes the developments along the Thames in Battersea and Nine Elms) and Westminster. In total, new-build starts in the inner boroughs fell by 3,810 units.
