Knight Frank is beefing up its super prime lettings team in response to what it calls “surging demand.”

Nick Beckett has been named as co-head of super prime lettings for Prime Central London (PCL). 

He will work in tandem with Tom Smith, who heads up the team.

Under the new structure, Smith will continue to lead the super prime lettings platform from an operational and strategic perspective, working closely with development clients and institutional owners. Beckett’s primary focus will be advising private clients and driving transactional performance across PCL.

The move comes against a backdrop of diverging performance in the lettings market. 

While the overall number of tenancies started in the year to February was down by 2% compared to the previous year, above £5,000 per week there was an increase of 8%, Knight Frank data shows. 

This is primarily driven by what the agency describes as “internationally mobile private clients.”

Over the course of FY 2025/26, Knight Frank’s super prime lettings team completed 127 transactions, of which 102 were in London. 

Activity was driven by repeat business and a highly international private client base, with the team securing a number of standout deals, including lettings achieving headline rents of up to £60,000 per week. 

Transactions ranged from a 10,000 sq ft Belgravia townhouse at £35,000 per week to a Georgian mansion in St John’s Wood guided at £60,000 per week, alongside new benchmark pricing achieved at developments such as Chelsea Barracks.

Beckett says: “Winning the Spear’s 500 Property Broker of the Year award was a standout moment in my career, and I’m grateful to my private clients whose trust has allowed me to consistently be one of the leading fee earners within the residential division. 

“Tom and I have worked closely since 2019, and I’m excited for this next chapter as we continue to build the Prime Central London super prime business together and set the benchmark at the very top end of the market.”