£1m home purchases outside London could overtake capital, figures show

The number of million-pound home purchases outside London could overtake those in the capital this year, analysis suggests.

Mortgage broker Private Finance, which studied Land Registry figures covering England and Wales, said London has traditionally seen the bulk of sales of homes worth £1 million-plus, accounting for 53% last year.

But the ripple effect of prices rising outside London, combined with a slowdown in the pace of price growth in the capital, means that more than half (51%) of £1 million-plus property transactions could take place outside London in 2017 if recent trends continue.

In 1995, when house prices were much lower, London had an 81% share of transactions of £1 million or more.

Private Finance said Hertfordshire, Surrey, Essex, Hampshire and Kent are particular hotspots for million-pound sales, with Manchester, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, the West Midlands, West Sussex and West Yorkshire also seeing growth in recent years.

In Wales, Carmarthenshire has seen a jump in high-end transactions, it found.

Shaun Church, director at Private Finance, said: "Sustained house price growth in London means that even for many highly paid professionals, a large family home in the capital is now out of reach.

"With buyers looking further afield as a result, this has contributed to significant growth in the number of million-pound-plus transactions in areas like Kent, Essex and the Home Counties, which are all within easy commuting distance of London."

Property analysts Hometrack recently said average prices in London have grown by 90% since 2009, but in recent months, price growth in London has been slowing as affordability becomes more stretched.

Hometrack recently said prices in London were up 3.3% year-on-year, while in Birmingham and Manchester they saw an increase of 7.7% and 6.8% respectively.