ONLY last week, the boom in London’s prime property market seemed unstoppable. Trifles such as interest rate rises matter little to private equity tycoons and hedge fund managers, who tend to pay in cash. Yet, while such masters of the universe may seem a world away from the pensioners queueing outside provincial branches of Northern Rock, the same market fluctuations may yet cost them their jobs.

Richard Snook, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, was recently quoted as saying: “If the weakness persists, we’d expect a considerable hit to City bonuses.” The Ernst & Young Item Club, an economic think-tank, has also predicted that bankers’ jobs and bonuses may be cut, leading to a slowing at the top end of the housing market: no fat bonus, no swanky new bachelor pad.

The purveyors of swanky new bachelor pads are not unduly worried, however. The people at Pan Peninsula, the obscenely luxurious residential skyscraper being built at Canary Wharf, are blithely preparing to launch their most decadent product yet: 20 top-of-the-range penthouses for the jet-setting financiers who work in the neighbouring skyscrapers. These two or three-bedroom playboy apartments cost from £2.5 million to £12 million for 1,652 to 7,714 sq ft of space.

“If banks lay off staff, they take more on a few months later,” says David Lairn Hibberd, Pan Peninsula’s sales manager. “Anyone rich enough to afford one of these flats is very good at their job and unlikely to be unemployed for long. They might buy one flat instead of three.” Canary Wharf workers are, after all, the highest earners in the country, according to the Office for National Statistics, taking home an average of £50,065 a year, to the City’s £47,444.

Buyers at the 50-storey Pan Peninsula have use of a cocktail bar on the 31st floor, a private cinema, spa, gym, restaurant, valet parking and, for penthouse owners, dedicated butler service. Since the launch in 2005, 85 per cent of the 800 flats have sold off-plan, buyers clearly seduced by the James Bond-style speedboat that transfers them to the floating marketing suite, and the stunning showflats. The 820 sq ft two-bed showflat (the real thing costs up to £700,000) has grey marble bathrooms with square sinks, chrome pipes and enamel baths – no plastic in sight. Toilets flush automatically and walls are heated to warm towels. The kitchen/living room has a glass wall, the master bedroom is a Goth’s boudoir in black wallpaper and mirrors, and the second bedroom has padded walls covered in fabric, like a very exclusive madhouse. The studio show flat is a masterpiece of yuppy excess. Tiny at 320 sq ft and £450,000, the flat’s walls are panelled in black and everything possible is hidden behind screens, for maximum show-off potential. There is barely any cooking surface, but then Pan Peninsula people don’t cook. Most fun is the bed; in one automated movement it descends from the wall, duvet and all, as the dining table folds underneath.

Buyers at the development have been, according to Lairn Hibberd, “wealthy, highflying Canary Wharf executives who mostly use it as a second home. It’s like an hotel room, except that not many hotels are catered to this standard. This isn’t just a set of boxes stacked on top of each other, it’s a lifestyle choice.”

It may soon, however, be one lifestyle choice the bankers at Canary Wharf cannot afford. This is an area used to fluctuating fortunes. Ten years ago, faced with recession and IRA bomb threats, one developer tells me “you couldn’t give flats away here”. Now every other office is let to an estate agent. But if the market starts to slide again, anxious bankers have other more affordable options from which to choose.

The pick of the bunch is the Oxygen building at Royal Victoria Dock, a block of 240 flats over 19 storeys topped by 12 luxury three-bedroom penthouses priced between £995,000 and £2.5 million, which are being launched on September 27. The slightly bleak area, dominated by the ExCel exhibition centre, is only a ten-minute trip from Canary Wharf. Royal Victoria DLR is over the road and you can walk to City airport. Here you can also bask in the luxury of a concierge, in-built coffee machine, videophone access and full home automation, for those who prefer to close the curtains by remote control. The triple-glazed penthouses range in size from 1,300-2,000 sq ft and are kitted out with curved kitchen units and a TV hidden behind a sliding picture in the living room. The “wow” factor comes from the 2,500 sq ft private garden terraces with views of the City, Canary Wharf and the Dome. Oxygen is already attracting big players priced out of Pan Peninsula. “Someone asked us if they could land a helicopter on their terrace,” says Lucy Fitzpatrick, of Fitzpatrick developers, “but unfortunately we’re too close to City airport.”

Bankers seeking value should look at the Silkworks development over the river in Lewisham. Right next to Elverson Road DLR station, off-plan flats with balconies in the two ten-storey towers start at £199,999 for a 295 sq ft studio. No fancy penthouses here, but that hasn’t stopped “young City or Canary Wharf workers” queueing overnight on the two sales days so far, Silkworks says. Thirty-two flats were sold in six hours on the first day in February. The next batch will be released on September 29, and buyers are promised a £2,500 discount on selected plots. In the current climate, this sort of financial incentive may be required to shift swanky new bachelor pads all over London. www.penpeninsula.com ; www.oxygen.co.uk ; www.silkworkslondon.co.uk

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