Leslie Garfield is flexing its townhouse prowess across the pond.
The 50-year-old brokerage, known for selling single-family homes, has teamed up with the London-based firm Russell Simpson to expand its reach beyond its core New York City neighborhoods, the company announced this week.
Garfield was previously partnered with another brokerage in the United Kingdom’s capital, Beauchamp Estates, for about a decade, though the two went their separate ways more than a year ago.
Richard Pretsfelder, a senior partner with Garfield, said the firm ended its association with Beauchamp because the company was “less of a cultural fit” and described their deal as having “run its course.”
Pretsfelder said the firm has been on the hunt for a new partner since then, adding that it ultimately decided on Russell Simpson due to the company sharing a similar “family ethos” and “philosophical approach“ to the business.
News of Garfield’s new counterpart comes as Americans have been scooping up premium properties in London, following changes to the nation’s tax laws that sparked a downturn in the residential market. The fallout chilled sales, pushed pricing down and sent the number of available homes on the rise.
About a quarter of the top deals in the city last year went to buyers from the U.S., an increase from 18 percent of sales in 2023, according to data from Beauchamp reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Garfield joins other brokerages that have made international moves in recent months. Elliman in June announced that it would end its 15-year partnership with Knight Frank and instead launch its own global arm, Elliman International, with a focus on selling homes across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.
Access to international markets was also one of the key pieces of Compass’ deal to buy @properties, the parent company of Christie’s International Real Estate, which marked Compass’ first foray outside the United States.
Russell Simpson, founded by Alan Russell, is a family-run brokerage, similar to Garfield, which was founded by Leslie Garfield in the 1970s and later purchased by his son, Jed Garfield. Both firms also focus on specific neighborhoods, with Russell Simpson zeroing in on Chelsea, Kensington and Mayfair.
Among the London homes already featured on Garfield’s site are a three-bedroom townhouse in Notting Hill asking just under £4 million and a two-bedroom houseboat in Chelsea available for rent asking £8,000 a month.
The announcement followed a rebrand of the company’s website and the launch of a new data dashboard called the Townhouse Index.
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