Londoners are selling homes on WhatsApp in booming private sales market

McDowell, whose firm advises wealthy clients on London real estate, says high-end buyers and sellers value privacy over anything else, and prefer to not showcase their homes on public portals. As such, he said, most negotiations have migrated to other spaces, and namely, WhatsApp. — Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

A record share of Londoners are shunning property portals and opting to sell their homes on their own terms – which are increasingly negotiated over WhatsApp.

Almost a quarter of London homes were sold off-market in the final three months of last year, according to broker Hamptons International. That’s more than double compared to the same period of 2019 – the final quarter before the pandemic – when under-the-table sales claimed 11% of total market share. It is also the highest quarterly figure since Hamptons began recording data in 2007.