The data provider LonRes recorded its quietest September for prime London sales since 2016, according to a report in The National on 22 October 2026. Sales were 16.8% below September 2025. The newspaper also reports that sale prices were 7.1% lower than a year earlier and that sellers accepted an average discount of 10.1% on asking prices. In the band of homes at £5m and above, sales fell 12.5% while new instructions rose 32.5%.
LonRes has not yet put these September readings on its own website. Its latest monthly dashboard covers August and its quarterly update covers the third quarter. Every figure labelled September below therefore rests on The National's account and could not be matched to a LonRes page on 23 October 2026.
The table sets the reported September readings beside LonRes's own. Changes are against the same period a year earlier.
| Measure | August (LonRes dashboard) | September (The National, as reported) | Third quarter (LonRes update) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale prices | -7.0% | -7.1% | -4.0% |
| Average discount to asking price | 10.4% | 10.1% (see note below) | 10.1% |
| Sales | -19.0% | -16.8% | -10.0% |
| £5m+ sales | -18.8% | -12.5% | -9.3% |
| £5m+ new instructions | -10.4% | +32.5% | -6.6% |
Two readings need care. LonRes gives 10.1% as its third-quarter discount across prime London, while The National attaches the same figure to September alone. They could coincide, since August's average was 10.4%, but only the quarterly figure could be confirmed. The 7.1% price fall is also not directly comparable with LonRes's quarterly sales index, which fell 4.0% over the year to the third quarter. The £5m+ figures are the least settled. LonRes's August dashboard says that, with monthly data volatile, looking at July and August together "smooths out some of the noise", and a 32.5% jump in September instructions would follow a 10.4% fall in August.
The National refers to "prime London postcodes" without singling out the central group, so the September numbers most likely cover the wider area. LonRes's "pre-pandemic" comparison is the 2017 to 2019 average. The National prints that range as "2017-20129", which reads as a typing slip, and on that basis September sales were 13.9% below the pre-pandemic September average, against 25.6% in August. The "since 2016" comparison rests on LonRes's transaction records, which are not public, so it cannot be rechecked outside the company.
LonRes is a private company, not a statistics agency. Its About page describes a subscription platform used by more than 5,000 property professionals, including agents who share listings for commission, and names its chairman as also chairman of the estate agency Beauchamp Estates. LonRes calls itself independent because it "neither sells nor lets property".
Knight Frank, an estate agency, publishes a separate index with a different method, covered in a separate brief on Knight Frank's September indices. The two sets of figures are not a like-for-like pair. A longer guide, London prime this autumn, compares Knight Frank and LonRes using LonRes's August data.
Sources
Sources read 23 October 2026.
- London’s prime properties take a 10% hit but new super homes emerge, The National, 22 October 2026. Supports the September figures attributed to LonRes (sales, prices, discount, £5m+ band, "since 2016").
- Prime London Market Update Autumn 2026, LonRes, page last updated 20 October 2026. Supports the third-quarter figures.
- Prime London Market Dashboard: August 2026, LonRes, 14 September 2026. Supports the August figures and the "smooths out some of the noise" quotation.
- About Us, LonRes. Supports the description of the company, its subscribers and its chairman.
- No News Has Been Good News for the Prime London Market, Knight Frank, 2 October 2026. Supports the description of Knight Frank as a separate index.