Politicians are queuing up to bash the rich, focusing on the houses they buy.

The LibDems, led by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and business secretary Vince Cable, are proposing a 'mansion tax', an annual charge of 1 per cent on properties valued at over £2 million.  And George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, wants to close the loophole by which properties owned by offshore companies avoid paying stamp duty.

The first proposal is unfair, the second unworkable. And both are cynical attempts to curry favour with the electorate.

The mansion tax is unfair because its arbitrary lower limit of £2m (already increased from the £1m that Vince Cable originally mooted last year) will impose very high stresses on markets where average values are high, mainly prime central London.  In our area, £2m will get you a property that no-one would regard as a 'mansion'. It will get you a relatively modest apartment.

In Marylebone particularly, many people who bought their homes in the 1980s before two property booms will now be retiring on fixed incomes. The imposition of a mansion tax may force them out of the places they have lived in for decades.

The tax will also impact investor sentiment, tipping the scales against London property as rental propositions and deterring inward investment that has brought billions in much-needed foreign currency into the capital over the last few years.

This pernicious proposal needs to be quashed immediately.

The closure of the stamp duty loophole would probably be a good thing, as possibly billions of pounds in duty may be lost in this way.  The problem is that many high value properties are being purchased not by people but by offshore companies, often set up specifically to own that property.  When the owner wants to sell, they sell not the property but the shares in the company. As the property does not change hands, no stamp duty is payable.

Unfortunately, without control over tax havens it is difficult to see how this might be done.

I can't remember a gloomier run-up to the festive season. Ebenezer Scrooge himself was a bundle of joy compared to all the financial pundits.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was a picture of misery as he gave his pre-budget statement, and the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility was no more cheerful. Even the BBC's Nick Robinson, normally a jolly sort of chap, looked serious and concerned.

The mood was just as downbeat out in the country, with a poll that purports to measure optimism in the property market finding that everyone thinks the value of their house has gone down in the last few months.

Except in London.

Here in central London, things are very different. Property prices remain stable and vendors who seriously want to sell are doing so very quickly if the price is realistic, but few property owners want to sell because central London property is one of those rare classes of wealth that is retaining its value in a world where inflation is creeping up and stock market yields are volatile.

As we move into spring, we expect the market to strengthen as buyers return, attracted by the underlying value of properties in the world's capital city. There's no pessimism here.

May I take this opportunity on behalf of everyone at Sandfords to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

London's world-wide reputation as a safe haven for money in a turbulent financial climate has been reinforced by the latest growth figures for the prime property market.

Property prices have now risen by nearly 40 per cent since the post-credit-crunch low in March 2008, bringing prices well above the 2008 peak. Restricted supply makes it very likely the trend will continue.

A very unusual aspect of the market is that both sale prices and rents are rising at the same time, as the British take to renting rather than buying. The average monthly rent in London is now over £2,000.

The combination of increasing capital values and rising rents means that prime central London property is now a more attractive investment than ever. Add in the city's stable political and economic foundations, and it is little wonder that the world's wealthy are parking their money in bricks and mortar here.

Eurozone investors in particular are showing up in our offices and on our websites, keen to move significant sums into London property before the coming whirlwind strikes.

At Sandfords, we believe the crisis in the single currency will not result in the meltdown that some critics predict, but one thing is sure – property in the Sandfords zone of Marylebone, Regent's Park and St John's Wood will only appreciate.

Google ‘Britain’s most expensive streets’, and at a touch of a button, the search engine will bring up an abundance of information about London being a hot spot location for buyers searching for the best homes on the market.

Overseas buyers are particularly keen to invest in the Capital especially since the Eurozone crises, with many properties sold going to cash-rich Europeans looking to move some of their wealth into the stability of the prime London property market. Marylebone, with its wealth of elegant properties and desirable High Street, has been attracting affluent buyers for a number of years. Demand for properties priced between £1.5 and £4million is intense, resulting in properties selling within an average of just seven days in Marylebone.

For those looking to secure their offspring in good educational establishments, Marylebone has well regarded business schools, increasing its popularity with buyers from the UK and overseas. But with prices high and supply short in prime Marylebone, the next area to invest in could well be West Marylebone. The ripple effect will mean more buyers are attracted to this part of Marylebone and will therefore further boost property values.

Apart from a few spots of rain, the sun shone and the weather was kind to the thousands of people who enjoyed this year's Marylebone Summer Fayre.

Organised and run by the Howard de Walden Estate, the Marylebone Fayre has been raising awareness and money for Teenage Cancer Trust for the last 6 years.  Last year the Fayre raised £36,000 for this worth while charity which funds and builds specialist units for young people with cancer in NHS hospitals.

This year we were asked by the Howard de Walden Estate to run the tombola stall. Thanks to the generosity of many Marylebone Village retailers and some of the Summer Fayre stall holders we are able to give away some fantastic prizes and raised a record sum for the charity. 

While we sold tickets to people queuing to try their luck at the tombola, our stilt walkers strode up and down the High Street giving away balloons and sweets.  Lots of photographs at: http://bit.ly/j2O6vW

The property market is close to the bottom of its long slide, and will start recovering next year, according to a respected firm of analysts.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) believes the acute housing shortage will combine with pent-up demand from people who have deferred buying for fear prices will drop still further.  Prices will rise as a result.  CEBR expects prices in the general property market to drop by a total of about 1.4 per cent over 2011 and begin to recover in 2012. They predict a 16 per cent rise by the end of 2015.

The latest figures from the respected Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors confirm that London is holding up well despite gloomy reports from the most of the rest of the UK.

RICS housing spokesman Jeremy Leaf said: “Despite the more positive picture for some parts of the UK, the general mood is still downbeat. However, London is bucking the trend with the market looking positive as it moves into the spring. With instructions gathering steam at roughly the same pace as enquiries, London agents could see a modest upturn in transactions in the coming months. However, the lack of mortgage finance continues to hold the market back."

At the risk of sounding smug, this is exactly as I've been forecasting since last autumn. In fact, I am now so confident in my analysis I will risk disagreeing with Jeremy on one point: lack of mortgage finance is not holding the prime central London market back because most buyers in this elevated area pay cash.

The word on the street is that properties are selling. I refer, of course, to estate agents' 'For Sale' boards, which have been switching to 'Sold' boards over the last month.

In February, there was an increase of 38.3 per cent in the number of boards being changed from 'For Sale' to 'Sold', according to Agency Express, one of the companies responsible for putting them up. And that is just the national average – in London the figure was 61.4 per cent.

In 2011, the prime central London property market will again buck the national trend and remain stable.

The top end of the London market has become a free-floating entity, separate from the general UK property market and operating under different rules.  In the UK’s regional markets (including non-prime London) property prices reflect the local economy because almost all house buyers live and work in the area, and most experts expect declining property values in the next year.  However, buyers of prime property in central London are the world’s super-rich, and their buying patterns are influenced by international financial events rather than regional trends.  And at the global scale, the outlook is much brighter.