Property News Item: 00152

8th Jun 2006

Twenty-fold rise in million pound properties since 1995

Source: http://www.hbosplc.com

Halifax Million Pound Property Report

The Review tracks all residential property sales of at least £1 million using data from the Land Registry for England and Wales and the Registers of Scotland. Halifax is the UK's largest mortgages and savings provider and also publishes the longest running monthly house price index in the UK.

There are now an estimated 66,600 properties in Britain valued at least £1 million compared with only 3,400 in 1995: a twenty-fold increase.

London's share of the country's million pound sales has fallen from 79% in 1995 to 58% in 2005 as the number of sales in this exclusive price bracket has risen dramatically elsewhere across Britain. In 2005 there were 788 sales above £1 million outside London and the South East compared with only 22 in 1995: a 36-fold increase.

Kensington & Chelsea and City of Westminster have consistently topped the £1m plus sales table by a wide margin. During 1995-2005 Kensington & Chelsea (4,946 sales) and City of Westminster (3,070) accounted for 36% of all one million plus property sales nationally.

KEY FINDINGS

* In 2005 there were sales of at least one £1m property in 238 local authority districts compared with 50 local authority districts in 1995.

* Since 1995, at least one £1m plus property has been sold in 337 out of the 397 (85%) local authority districts across the country.

* One in three of all million pound plus property sales in Britain in 2005 were in just two London boroughs: Kensington & Chelsea (657 sales) and the City of Westminster (503 sales).

* In London, it is estimated that 37,200 properties - 56% of the national total - are now valued above £1 million compared with just 2,600 in 1995. Sales above this landmark in London have increased 13 times over this period from 179 in 1995 to 2,254 in 2005.

* Outside London, the South East and East of England, Poole in Dorset has had the highest number of sales over £1 million since 1995 with 184 properties. Midlothian in Scotland (154 sales), Trafford in Greater Manchester (139 sales) and Macclesfield in Cheshire (103 sales) are the other areas outside London, the South East and the East of England with sales of more than 100 properties during this period.

Sales of £2 million and above

* There are a growing number of sales above two million pounds. In 2005 there were 566 property sales above £2 million. This compared with 40 in 1995.

* Regionally, 79% of all sales over £2 million in 2005 were in London (446 sales).

* 85% of all sales over £2 million in 1995 were in London (34).

* Most sales over £2 million during 1995-2005 were in Kensington & Chelsea (1,477 sales) and Westminster (709 sales). Camden (222 sales) and Barnet (153 sales) are the only other local authorities to record more than 150 sales over £2 million since 1995.

Martin Ellis, Chief Economist at the Halifax, commented: "Despite the substantial increase in £1 million sales over the past decade, such sales remain a tiny part of the market, accounting for only 0.4% of all sales in 2005. Even in London, where sales in this price bracket are far more frequent, £1 million sales represented only 2% of total property sales last year."