Top Ten London Buying

The prime central London market might have stalled in 2019, but that didn’t prevent Alex Stroud from doing more transactions than ever. His 20 transactions in a single calendar year took his total to 180 over a decade as a one-man-band.

The self-described ‘workaholic’ says his office hours often stretch past midnight as he seeks to do deals for his stable of clients, who are mostly international and often looking for a pied-àterre worth between £2 million and £5 million. ‘They need me to be their eyes and ears,’ says Stroud, who prides himself on his deep knowledge of London.

‘I know the porters that get drunk, I know where the tube runs underneath, I know where the lifts don’t work, I know the right side of the street to buy on.’ That attention to detail has won Stroud plenty of fans across the globe. He reports that one client was recently referred to him after attending a dinner party in Hong Kong where two other guests were also satisfied customers.

Others have placed enough confidence in him to make a purchase without setting foot in the property – a video sent via WhatsApp and Stroud’s recommendation have proved to be enough more than once. ‘They totally trusted me,’ says Stroud of clients who completed a deal recently. ‘My advice was, “This is what I’d do.”’