Luxury goods and services are being offered at big discounts as the wealthy rein back spending. The average price of an extravagant lifestyle is down almost 4% in a year, said Stonehage, a wealth manager.

Culture and entertainment costs, including concierge services and membership of exclusive clubs, have fallen an average 20.5%, while fine wine and eating out are down 8.2%, according to the research. Household staff and botox treatments are also 13.5% cheaper.

The reduction in prices follows a 14.9% fall in the number of high net worth individuals around the world, says the Merrill Lynch World Wealth report, published last week. Britain was hit particularly hard by the downturn because of the dominance of its financial-services industry. The number of high net worth individuals (those with more than $1m or £615,000 of assets, excluding primary residence), shrank 26.3% in the UK against 12.6% in France and 2.7% in Germany.

Some wealthy individuals are pawning luxury items to ease cashflows. Borro.com, an online pawnbroker, has recently set up offices in central London with former Christie’s and Sotheby’s employees to value high-end items. It offers loans at a rate of 4% secured against the pawned item.

Gumtree.com, the classified-ads site, has noticed a sharp rise in luxury items for sale in the past six months, including a 168% increase in boats and jet-skis.

One recent posting lists a diamond engagement ring for £2,100. The price has been cut by £500. It read: “Only being sold as husband has been made redundant (victims of the credit crunch!) so please be generous with your offers.”

Here we list some of the top discounts to bag a luxury lifestyle on the cheap.

Wine

The price of fine wines has fallen 17.2% over the past 12 months, according to the Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine index, an industry benchmark, although the index has bounced back 4.5% this year.

Chris Smith, investment manager at the Wine Investment Fund, predicts a further 9% increase to the Liv-ex index by the end of the year. “The value of wine is steadily increasing this year and is likely to continue doing so,” he said. Smith is buying 2000 vintage wines including Châteaux Latour at about £6,500 a case compared with almost £8,000 a year ago.

Entertainment

Quintessentially.com, a 24-hour concierge service that allows you to book hotels, restaurants and shows as well as providing access to exclusive events and parties, is now offering the basic £750 package for couples at the same price.