Over fifth of London sales this year hit £1m or over

A fifth of all homes sold so far this year in London have been for over £1m.

London estate agency Benham and Reeves analysed sold price data from the Land Registry for property sales to have completed so far this year across 12 major cities. The firm then looked at what proportion of total sales sold for £1m or more, the average sold price and the total value of homes sold. 

The London market lags when it comes to the annual rate of house price growth, down 0.8 per cent in the last year, one of just three regions to have seen a year on year decline. However, when it comes to homes sold at £1m or more, London remains the dominant force within the market. 

The research shows that so far this year, 3,716 properties have sold for £1m or more across London, some 21.1 per cent of total sales completed across the capital. 

Homes selling above the £1m threshold have averaged a sold price of £1.45m versus £565,000 across the rest of the London market. 

In total, London’s £1m homes have sold for a combined value of £312.2m, with Bristol again ranking second albeit someway off the pace set by London with a total value of £156.1m.

Bristol has the second highest number of £1m-plus sales, although the 86 homes sold for £1m or more equate to just 1.9 per cent of total homes sold. 

Sheffield (0.9 per cent), Newcastle and Leeds (both 0.6 per cent) make up the top five.

Marc von Grundherr, director of Benham and Reeves, says: “It’s fair to say that the London market as a whole has been underperforming for some time and we simply haven’t seen the same high rates of house price growth envelope the capital when compared to the rest of the nation … We’ve seen strong levels of demand so far this year across the upper tiers of the London market, buoyed by the return of foreign homebuyers, in particular.?