The housing market slowdown has finally caught up with the super-rich. The most luxurious of London homes - those priced at £10 million or more - dropped 1.7 per cent in value in September, according to Knight Frank.

The fall - the first since 2004 - is something of a shock given the sector's spirited resistance to the gloom in the rest of the market. Liam Bailey, head of research at Knight Frank, says: “The global economic crisis is starting to affect the attitudes of the truly wealthy, even if their wealth is yet to be substantially dented.” But will the owners of prime parts of London now feel at one with more humble householders who, Nationwide reported last week, suffered a 12.4 per cent fall in the value of their home, to £161,797? It seems not.

The super-rich are certainly showing a new determination to strike hard property bargains in London - a trend that Knight Frank says is likely to be reflected in country areas, where prime rural property has attracted more overseas buyers in recent years.

But the agent believes that demand will remain largely undiminished, with only small declines in price and transaction numbers - in sharp contrast to the mainstream market, where conditions are forecast to deteriorate. The reason? Financial turmoil has spread across the globe, and each time uncertainty infects emerging economies, more wealth floods into safer havens such as the UK. Bailey says: “The stock of super-prime property in London is limited, and represents a tangible long-term investment to those who may have lost faith in more abstract opportunities.”

But owners of the most expensive homes should not be blasé. You might think that price falls would be worst in those areas or markets where equity-poor homeowners are struggling to obtain home loans. Instead, Yolande Barnes, head of research at Savills, says that the biggest price cuts seem to be occurring in those places where homeowners are rich in equity, such as the South and in the prime market. She says: “Sellers are able to accept reduced prices because it is effectively money out of their pocket, whereas owners with less equity can simply not afford to do this.”

More realistic prices should mean more successful sales and a healthier market - perhaps one reason that Savills predicts that the South and London will enjoy a faster return to growth once the market takes off from 2010.

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