It is often said that the London property market is totally different from the rest of the country.

Savills research shows that, while the average house price fell by 1.3% across the country last year, according to the Halifax, values in prime central London continued to rise – up 14.1% over the same period.

What is interesting about this is that prime central London values have done so well even though City bonuses are no longer what they were.

Instead, the main drivers behind the price rises are international equity and cash from the ‘West End financial sector’, such as the private offices and hedge funds of Mayfair.

While £8bn of City bonus cash helped fund the boom in prime London houses in 2006 and 2007, in 2011 this fell to just £1bn.

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As a wealth manager and debt broker, over the past few years we have increasingly found ourselves focusing on the London market. We expect this to continue, as this is where the real growth seems to be.

In this capacity, we hope to offer an insight into the trends and quirks we are seeing in the city.

It is hard to escape the buzz around the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, although why would you want to when both are set to be huge celebrations for London?

Some Londoners are keen to cash in – with Tower Bridge loft apartments on offer for £1,000 a night and landlords demanding that tenants pay up to four times their usual rent or ship out for the summer so that they can fleece tourists instead.

Footballer Sol Campbell is reported to be after £75,000 a week for his Cheyne Walk property while he decamps to a penthouse on the Thames.

Mind you, with talk of the influx of tourists adding an hour to the rush-hour commute, you can’t blame those who want to get away – and make some money at the same time.

Disappointingly, the Campbell property doesn’t have a swimming pool in the basement, although there is an underground walkway to a neighbouring mews house for the staff.

Swimming pools and gyms in basements have incurred the ire of the Lords who have called for restrictions on such constructions, because of the risk of damage and disturbance to neighbours.

Lord Selsdon’s Subterranean Development Bill will particularly impact the London market if it becomes law as high property prices make extending downwards attractive.

With homeowners spending as much as £750,000 on such developments, there is plenty of opportunity for debt brokers for refinancing and development finance.

One problem we often come across when it comes to financing prime residences is valuations.

With the bigger properties there isn’t an awful lot to compare them with: a client may be buying a property for £10m but when the nearest property sold in the area went for £4.5m, how can you compare it?

However, it could be worse: while down valuations have become a big issue in Northern Ireland and the northwest of England, according to e.surv, homeowners in London and the South East are less likely to receive a down valuation.

That’s just one of the many advantages of working and living in the capital.

Mark Harris is chief executive of SPF Private Clients