Wonderful thing, statistics. They are a springboard for imagination. Take the latest from estate agent Savills. It says that £3.3 billion of foreign capital fuels the prime London property market each year.

From this, it deduces that the international wealth currently flowing into the prime London residential market each year is enough to buy 18,561 average UK homes. Taken together, these sums are sufficient to buy all privately owned stock in the whole Greater London area within 157 years at today's values, the report says.

Television broadcaster Andrew Marr once wrote that the more noughts there are in a number quoted in the press, the less you should believe it. However, there is no doubt that demand for London property is strong and prices are climbing.

This is all good news for Stanmore estate agent Breslauer. It has brought two substantial properties to the market in recent weeks.

Fallowfield is a 5,000 sq ft new home, with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a top-floor studio room, all centred on a walnut and glass panelled galleried staircase.

The asking price at Fallowfield is £2.595 million.

New to the market in Barnet Lane, Elstree, a secure electronic gated entrance fronts a five-bedroom, three bathroom family home with double garage. The property has a large south-facing rear garden and patio and an outbuilding currently used as an office.

Asking price for this one is £1.395 million.