Number of UK homes worth more than a million has doubled since 2019
The number of homes in the UK priced at £1m or above has doubled since the start of the pandemic as the housing market continues its upward march.
Just over five per cent of homes for sale across the UK are now priced at over a million pounds, versus just under three per cent in 2019, according to property platform Rightmove.
“The surge in million-pound homes for sale across Great Britain is substantial,” Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert, said.
The increase hasn’t been limited to classically pricey London, either: Cornwall saw the biggest increase, followed by Uttlesford – near Cambridge – and Somerset.
Overall, the number of locations outside London with an average property price over one million has more than doubled since 2019, from 30 areas to 66.
Property giant Savills has attributed the growth to well-off Londoners taking advantage of hybrid or work-from-home policies and moving to the countryside.
“The recent changes to school fees are also having an impact on the region’s property market, with more buyers driven to the West Midlands to take advantage of the abundance of highly regarded public schools on offer,” Peter Daborn, head of residential sales at Savills in the West Midlands, said.
But London still has the highest number of million-pound homes for sale, with multiple boroughs – including Camden, Westminster and Kensington – boasting average properties values over a million.
Savills found that 5,000 London properties crossed the threshold last year, although head of residential research Lucien Cook noted that growth has been “limited by higher mortgage costs and stretched affordability”.
“[This has] further reduced some of the gains made over the course of the pandemic in suburban and rural areas,” Cook said.
“Falling mortgage rates and improved optimism among second steppers should increase the share of £1 million homes more significantly over the coming year, with commutability and good schools likely to be the key drivers for where growth is most concentrated,” Cook added.