Almost 14,000 London homes were sold away from the public market during 2025 according to estimates from AgentWise.
The agent networking platform calculated that private transactions accounted for approximately 13,980 of the capital’s 80,688 residential property sales last year.
That represented around 17% of London transactions, despite overall activity remaining substantially below the post-pandemic peak.
AgentWise analysed residential transaction data from 2007 to 2025 alongside its estimates of private market activity to examine how selling practices have changed.
SEVENFOLD INCREASE
The number of privately agreed sales has grown considerably since 2010, when AgentWise estimated that just 1,839 London homes changed hands without being openly marketed.
Private transactions reached an estimated 23,819 in 2021 and remained above 23,000 during 2022 before declining as the wider property market slowed.
However, the 2025 total was still more than seven times higher than the figure recorded 15 years earlier.
The analysis suggests private sales have developed beyond the traditional market for trophy homes and are increasingly being used across a wider range of London property transactions.
AgentWise says relationships between agents have become particularly important as buyer requirements grow more specialised, international and reliant on professional introductions.
“What has really changed over the last decade is the way agents collaborate.”
Eric Corsaletti (main picture), Founder of AgentWise, says: “For many people, the term ‘private sale’ still conjures images of trophy homes changing hands quietly between ultra-high-net-worth individuals. While that certainly remains part of the market, today’s private market is much broader than that.
“What has really changed over the last decade is the way agents collaborate. As buyer pools have become more specialist, more international and more relationship-led, agents are increasingly working together to identify the right buyer long before a property reaches the wider market.”
AGENT NETWORKS
Corsaletti says the public market would remain central to residential agency but argues private transactions have become a permanent alternative.
“Nearly 14,000 London homes changing hands privately in a year of relatively subdued market activity tells us that this isn’t simply a by-product of buoyant conditions,” he says.
“It’s a reflection of how the industry has evolved.
“For agents, success increasingly depends not just on who they know within their own business, but on the strength of the wider professional network they can call upon.
“As collaboration becomes more important, having access to trusted relationships across firms, markets and countries is becoming a genuine competitive advantage.”
