Transactions in the prime central London market picked up 14% in the third quarter of this year, estate agents’ data platform LonRes has reported.

It also says that new instructions increased by 9% on an annual basis. It was the first time new instructions have gone up since last October.

However, prices were down almost 6% on the same quarter last year.

They are also now 17% lower than their 2014 peak, and 13% below than those achieved in the three months before the EU referendum.

The very top end of the market – properties over £5m – was subdued, with 29% fewer sales than a year ago.

LonRes also reports that average discounts to initial asking prices were 11%.

It also says that because sales rose, despite the rise in new instructions, overall numbers of properties for sale fell back, by 14% compared with a year earlier.

The prime central London market is seen by some as a bellwether for the UK as a whole, and by others as a sector that is entirely divorced from the rest of the country.