Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson sells her London mansion... after slashing £4MILLION from the original asking price

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The Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson's London mansion has sold for £11.5million - three years after she first put it on the market and for £4million less than the original asking price. 

The 49-year-old artist and film-maker's six-bedroom home in Primrose Hill was put up for sale in 2013 for £15.5million but never sold, then marketed again in 2015 with a new price tag of £14million.

The sale price is only a slight increase on the £11.1million Taylor-Johnson paid for it in 2008 - and estate agents are pointing to rising stamp duties at the top end of the market as the reason wealthy owners are being forced to slash prices to offload their luxury properties.

Despite a bumper reduction, the £11.5 million sale price still makes it the second most expensive house bought in the NW1 postcode this year and the fourth biggest deal in the Camden borough, according to Land Registry data. 

According to the Land Registry the new owner paid £11.5million for the six-bedroom home in Albert Terrace, Primrose Hill 

The airy mansion, which has views of Primrose Hill, has been described as one of the most 'iconic' homes in the area

The stunning kitchen at the property in Albert Terrace, Primrose Hill, which the film director paid £11.1million for in 2008

The film director, pictured with her husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson at a party in 2015, originally wanted £15.5million for the property when she first put it on the market in 2013

The property has six bedrooms, two reception rooms, a huge games room in the basement, a balcony, and off-street parking for three cars. 

Sam Taylor-Johnson, 49, and her 26-year-old husband, the actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who have been in the US promoting Aaron's new film Nocturnal Animals, sold the home through Knight Frank, which described it as one of Primrose Hill's 'most iconic' homes.   

The film director paid £11.1million for the home - which is more than six times the size of the average British home - in 2008 during the last housing crash. 

She failed to strike a deal on the property after putting it up for £15.5million in 2013, and rented it out before eventually putting it back on the market last year with an asking price of £14million. 

Stamp duty on Sam Taylor-Johnson's house at £14 million would have been £1.6 million. Two years ago it would have been £1,085,000.

The new buyer will now pay £1.3 million in stamp duty as opposed to £805,000 if the deal was done in 2014. 

The film director's home has been sold for £11.5million - only a slight increase on the £11.1million Taylor-Johnson bought it for in 2008, during the housing crash  

The Primrose Hill mansion, bought for £11.1million by the film director in 2008, has six bedrooms, two reception rooms, a games room and a balcony

The Taylor-Johnsons have been among a number of A-list stars who have struggled to sell their homes in London over the past 18 months.

Jamie Oliver has reduced his Primrose Hill home on two occasions while Tom Conti hasn't found a buyer for his £15 million home. Noel Gallagher's home has languished on the market for more than one year.

The reason many estate agents are giving for the struggling market is the changes in stamp duty at the high-end. 

There are now calls for chancellor Philip Hammond to shake-up stamp duty in this week’s Autumn Statement. 

The Taylor-Johnson's former property in Albert Terrace has been in the news on a number of occasions.

In 2014, police visited the property after reports there was a machine gun spotted through a window on the dining table. It turned out to be a deactivated M16 rifle being used as part of a charity art project.

Earlier this year, the celeb couple rented the property out on a luxury AirBNB-style website for £890 per night, prompting complaints from neighbour John McCririck about people partying at the pad. 

Nick Davies, head of residential development at Stirling Ackroyd, said: 'Targeting top end buyers of properties valued at over £1 million might have been good politics at the time, but the policy is crippling Prime Central London, with potentially damaging consequences for the capital's property market down the road.'

Robin Paterson, joint chairman and CEO of United Kingdom Sotheby's International Realty, wants stamp duty to be halved at the higher end.

He added: 'The 2014 stamp duty reforms had a significant impact on all aspects of the market but most crucially on British buyers. We need these buyers back to create movement at all levels.'