New-build luxury apartments in central London have been the biggest casualties of the increase in Stamp Duty charges and Brexit uncertainty, analysis claims.

Research of Land Registry data for 2016 by property investment company London Central Portfolio found that completed sales of new flats in prime central London, defined as areas around Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, were down 41.4% year-on-year in the final three months of 2016 to 154, while average prices also fell 8.7% over the same period to £1.9m.

According to LCP’s analysis, the luxury end of the PCL market, where Stamp Duty has soared from 5% to 15% since 2012, saw the biggest reduction in sales.

New-build sales over £5m declined by 57% to 29 in the fourth quarter of 2016.

A 38% fall in sales for new-build properties under £1m was also recorded to 202.

However, this can also be attributed to increasingly less stock availability at this price point.

Overall, 44% of all prime central London new-build sales took place in the first quarter of 2016, LCP says, as buyers aimed to beat the Stamp Duty changes in April.

Naomi Heaton, chief executive of LCP, said: “While the story for new-builds in prime central London, particularly luxury property, looks grim, these represent a very small proportion of the market due to the lack of development possibilities.

“There were only 867 new-build sales in prime central London in 2016, representing just 14.6% of total property sales.

“Although sales volumes in prime central London as a whole were at their lowest level on record, average prices saw a 3.75% rise over the year to £1.8m.”