The only real action in the London property market is now in properties worth more than £2 million, according to the banking and mortgage giant Lloyds TSB.

Sales worth more than £2m grew by 9 per cent in 2011 but sales of properties worth £1m were static.

Nothing illustrates better the fact that in central London a million pounds buys you a fairly ordinary family home, not a palace.

The international super-rich are now paying a minimum of £2m for the special kind of home they desire, and it is only the international super-rich who are able to deploy that kind of investment in the current economic climate. And for them, London still represents a glowing investment opportunity, combining political and economic stability, the status of the world's greatest city and good financial returns.

The enduring popularity of central London as one of the places where all billionaires have at least one home also explains another interesting figure in the Lloyds TSB figures: London accounts for two thirds of all UK sales above £1m with 4,329 transactions in 2011 compared with 2582 in the rest of the country. Wales had just 13.

The breakdown of £1m+ properties within London is also changing, the figures show. In the past, nearly all the top addresses in the capital were in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

In 2011, Westminster and Camden together accounted for more £1m+ properties than Kensington and Chelsea - most of them in Sandfords' domain of Marylebone, Regent's Park and St John's Wood.