New research from largemortgageloans.com, the specialist large loans mortgage broker, reveals that million pound property sales in Great Britain fell by 41% in 2008. Last year, 5,302 million pound properties were sold in Great Britain, down from the 9,003 sales in 2007.
largemortgageloans.com has researched and analysed residential property sales of at least £1 million at regional and local authority level in Great Britain, using Land Registry data for 2008, 2007 and 1998, and Registers of Scotland data for 2008 and 2007. (Data for Scotland is unavailable before 2004)
Million pound property sales fell by 41% in 2008
This research reveals that million pound property sales in Great Britain fell by 41% in 2008. Last year, 5,302 million pound properties were sold in Great Britain, down from the 9,003 sales in 2007. Million pound properties accounted for 0.7% of all property sales in Great Britain in 2008 (5,302 out of 750,926) a slight increase from the 0.6% share of all property sales in 2007 (9,003 out of 1,432,316)
North West and London regions see the biggest fall, North East and Scotland the smallest
There were large differences between the regions of Great Britain, with the North West seeing a 50% decrease and Greater London a 44% decrease in the number of million pound property sales from 2007 to 2008. In contrast, the North East and Scotland saw decreases of only 12% and 11% respectively. It would seem that the effects of the credit crunch have not been equally felt by regional million pound property markets. (Table 1)
83% of the million pound property sales in Britain in 2008 were in London and the South East
The Greater London region recorded the highest number of million pound properties sold in 2008, with 2,736 sales, 52% of the total in Great Britain, followed by the South East, with 1,648 sales, 31% of the total.
Combined, 4,384 out of 5,302 million pound property sales in Great Britain (83%) were in Greater London and the South East, compared with 7,627 out of 9,003 in 2007 (85%). (Table 1)
Five times as many million pound properties were sold in England and Wales in 2008 than in 1998
Using ten year comparison data for England and Wales only (as data for Scotland is unavailable before 2004), 5,079 million pound properties were sold in England and Wales in 2008, five times (516%) as many as were sold in 1998 (825). (Table 2)
London’s share of all million pound property sales in England and Wales has fallen over the past ten years from 74% to 54%
Again using ten year comparison data for England and Wales only, London’s share of all million pound property sales in England and Wales has fallen over the past ten years from 74% in 1998 (608 out of 825) to 54% in 2008 (2,736 out of 5,079). At the same time, the South East region’s share has increased from 20% in 1998 (165 out of 825) to 32% in 2008 (1,648 out of 5,079). (Table 2)
Although decreasing by nearly 50% in just one year, Kensington & Chelsea has the highest number of million pound property sales by local authority. Camden has seen a relatively small decrease of 13%
Kensington & Chelsea was the Local Authority which saw the highest number of million pound property sales (580) in 2008, although this represented a decrease of 48% from 2007 (1,106).
The two local authority areas of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster accounted for 21% of million pound property sales in Great Britain in 2008 (1,107 out of 5,302). This figure has not changed from 2007.
Amongst the top ten local authorities by number of million pound property sales, Camden saw the smallest decrease – 13% – from 293 properties in 2007 to 256 in 2008. (Table 3)
Edinburgh has the most million pound property sales outside London and the South East
Elmbridge was the leading local authority outside London, with 201 million pound properties (compared with 357 in 2007), followed by Edinburgh (100, down from 126 in 2007). Edinburgh was the only local authority to feature in the ‘top ten’ outside London, all the others being located in the South East. (Table 4)
Ten local authorities actually recorded an increase in million pound property sales in 2008
Of those local authorities recording at least 10 separate million pound property sales in 2008, ten of them recorded an increase in million pound property sales from 2007 to 2008, bucking the overall trend.
Fife and South Lanarkshire in Scotland both saw a 100% increase in the number of million pound properties sold, with East Devon and Newcastle both recording increases of over 50%.
Oxford, Welwyn Hatfield, Ashford, Croydon, Mid Sussex and the Vale of White Horse (in Oxfordshire) also saw increases in the number of million pound properties sold. (Table 5)
Notes
Data tables 1-5 are attached to this e-mail in the full report in pdf format, as pasting them into the body of the e-mail often causes formatting problems
Contacts
Paul Welch, Managing Director of largemortgageloans.com, on 020 7519 4900
e-mail: paul.welch@largemortgageloans.com
Ian Giles, Marketing Director, on 07747 800517
e-mail: ian.giles@largemortgageloans.com
