Sales of million pound properties across Britain in the first half of 2004 were 61% higher than in the same period in 2003. 1,938 million pound properties were sold in the first six months of 2004 compared to 1,204 properties in the first six months of 2003. This surge followed a 2% fall in the number of million pound properties sold between 2002 and 2003.
There has also been an increase in the number of sales above £2 million, with 308 sales above this mark in the first six months of 2004 – 50% higher than in the same period last year.
Despite the substantial increase in £1 million sales over the past few years, such sales remain a tiny part of the market, accounting for only 0.3% of all sales in the first six months of this year.
KEY FINDINGS
Nationally
Sales in London accounted for almost two-thirds (64%) of all million pound property sales in Britain in the first half of 2004. This represented an increase in London's share from 58% in the first six months of 2003. London and the South East accounted for 87% of all sales over £1 million during the first six months of 2004. This is almost the same percentage as in 2001 (88%).
During the first half of 2004 ten local authority districts saw their first million pound property sales. The local authority districts of Barnsley, City of Nottingham, Coventry, Craven, Dover, Exeter, Forest of Dean, North East Lincolnshire, Teesdale and West Lothian all recorded their first £1m plus sale during the first six months of the year.
One in three of all million pound plus property sales nationally in the first six months of 2004 were in two London boroughs: Kensington & Chelsea (391 sales) and the City of Westminster (243 sales). These two areas have consistently topped the £1m plus sales table by a wide margin.
Almost two in three sales above £1 million are between £1 million and £1.5 million, but there are a growing number of sales above two million pounds. In the first half of 2004 there were 308 property sales above £2 million. This was 50% higher than in the same period a year earlier (205), and represented 16% of all sales over £1 million.
Regionally
In London 1,235 properties were sold for over £1 million in the first half of 2004. This was 532 more than in the first six months of 2003 (703). This 76% rise followed a 9% decline between 2002 and 2003.
Million pound property sales in the first half of 2004 were higher than in the same period last year in the majority of regions. There were, however, falls in West Midlands, East Midlands and Scotland although the number of sales in each of these areas is low.
The highest number of million pound plus sales outside London and the South East were in the East and South West. The regions experienced rises of 14% and 68% respectively between the first halves of 2003 and 2004. Sales remain low by comparison with London and the South East, at 98 and 69 in the East and South West respectively.
Locally
In the first half of 2004 there were sales of at least one £1m property in 163 local authority districts, with sales of more than one £1m home in 101 of these areas. Since 1999, £1m plus properties have been sold in 296 out of the 396 local authority districts.
Eight London boroughs accounted for over half the million pound sales in Britain in the first six months of 2004. All eight boroughs were among the top 10 areas recording the highest number of sales during the period. Elmbridge in Surrey and South Buckinghamshire were the other two local authority areas in the top 10.
Outside London and the South East, the local authority areas of Three Rivers and St Albans in Hertfordshire and Trafford in Greater Manchester had the highest number of sales over £1 million in the first half of 2004 (all with 15). Poole (12 sales), Epping Forest (11 sales), Carrick (11 sales), Macclesfield (11 sales) and Bath and North East Somerset (10 sales) were the other areas outside London and the South East with sales of 10 or more.*
The Importance of £1m properties
The number of £1 million plus property sales remains a very small part of the market despite the strong upward trend over the past few years, accounting for only 0.3% of all sales nationally in the first half of 2004. Even in London, £1 million sales represented only 1.5% of total property sales.
On the basis that sales are representative of the entire housing stock, there are now approximately 43,000 properties in England and Wales valued at least £1 million. This compares with only 3,400 in 1995. In London, it is estimated that 28,500 properties are now valued above £1 million compared with just 2,600 in 1995.
Sales of £2 million and above
Regionally, 83% of all sales over £2 million in the first six months of 2004 were in London (257 sales). All but 14 sales were in London and the South East.
As with all sales over £1 million, most sales over £2 million were in Kensington & Chelsea (123 sales) and Westminster (54 sales). Camden (17 sales), Barnet and Richmond upon Thames (both 13 sales), and Wandsworth and Elmbridge (both 11 sales) were the only other local authorities to record more than 10 sales over £2 million during the first six months of 2004.
The 11 sales of £2 million and above outside London and the South East were in Poole, Bath & North East Somerset, North Wiltshire, Carrick and Tewkesbury in the South West, St Albans, Brentwood, Cambridge and Colchester in the East, Stratford on Avon in the West Midlands, Trafford in the North West and Castle Morpeth in the North East.
There have been property sales of £2million and above in 121 local authorities since the beginning of 2001.
Martin Ellis, Chief Economist at the Halifax, commented:
"The number or properties sold for over a £1 million resumed its strong upward trend in the first six months of 2004 following a modest decline last year. The very top end of the housing market has strengthened. While a small number of areas in London continue to account for the overwhelming majority of £1 million sales, the incidence of properties valued above the £1 million threshold continues to spread across the country."
