There's actually quite a lot of new construction in London, to the extent that some areas have a serious glut with many many years' worth of supply sitting on t

There's actually quite a lot of new construction in London, to the extent that some areas have a serious glut with many many years' worth of supply sitting on the market not selling. The problem here isn't just that what's being built is unaffordable - although it definitely is that - but that it's not what inhabitants want. It's being built to appeal to mostly Asian investors who like shiny high-rise newbuild and will probably never even see their purchases, much less live in them, so you end up with minuscule unit sizes, poor build quality, overheating, insufficient elevators and boilers, all the obvious corners to cut. Not sure what you mean by "mere normal people who had 150k to put down for a mortgage" - with median London incomes somewhere around £30k, needing a £150k deposit doesn't sound especially normal-friendly. If you meant total price, yes, now you're talking.