London still makes sense.
Just not for the reasons people think.

"The smart money is leaving London." It's the line everyone's repeating in 2026, and there's enough truth in it to feel right. Non-dom changes, tax pressure, a decade of flat prime prices — I understand why the story sells. I just don't think it's the whole story, and I've been building in that market since 2006.

Here's the thing people miss when they declare a city finished: they confuse the trade that stopped working with the asset that stopped working. What died in London wasn't London. What died was the easy, financialised, buy-it-Tuesday-flip-it-Friday trade of the 2010s. That game is over. Anyone still trying to play it is right to be disappointed.

But that was never why London was valuable. London's value is that it's one of a tiny handful of cities on earth where the rule of law, the schools, the time zone, the language and the depth of the market all sit in one place. That doesn't reprice because of a Budget. It reprices on a timescale of decades, and usually in the wrong direction for the people betting against it.

Where the opportunity actually is

For a Dubai-based or dollar-linked buyer right now, London is doing something quietly interesting. Prime central prices have been flat-to-soft in sterling for years — and sterling itself has done what sterling does. If your money is in dirhams or dollars, you're looking at an asset that has effectively been marked down twice: once by the market and once by the currency. That is not the setup you get in a city that's finished. That's the setup you get in a city that's on sale.

The rental side tells the same story from the other direction. Supply is constrained, demand from students, professionals and relocating families is not, and yields on well-chosen stock are healthier than they've been in a long time. It's unglamorous. It's also how real portfolios get built.

Who it's for — and who it isn't

Let me be honest about the catch, because the exodus crowd isn't entirely wrong. London is not a market for people who need a quick number. If your plan is to double your money in eighteen months, Dubai off-plan is a far better tool and I'll tell you so myself. London is patient capital's market. It rewards the buyer who thinks in currencies, in generations, and in "where do I want my family's wealth to sit in twenty years," not the one refreshing a portal for the next flip.

So no, the smart money isn't leaving London. The impatient money is leaving London. Those are very different things, and the people quietly buying while everyone announces the funeral tend to be the ones who understood the difference.

Saied Nazemi — Founder, TRPE Real Estate · Building in London since 2006