1 in 40 homes now valued £1 million or more, according to Savills

Over the past three years, the number of £1 million-plus homes has increased by some +40%, however this slightly down from a peak of over 760,000 homes in September 2022 during the height of the pandemic induced property boom.

Higher price growth and increased demand for larger properties saw 41,223 properties cross over the £1 million threshold in 2022. This brings the total value of Britain’s £1 million home market is now valued at £1.43 trillion.

“The number of property millionaires across Great Britain has shot up over the past three years, as a consequence a booming post-lockdown property market, with people placing a greater value than ever on their home and lifestyle,” comments Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills.

“While we expect the top end of the market to be less affected by  higher interest rates and cost of living pressures than the mainstream, it is not entirely immune  to them. This suggests 2022 will represent a high water market for £1m+ homes for a few years at least.” 

Locations with the biggest increase in property millionaires

More than half (53%) of £1 million homes are now located outside of London. This is the highest proportion in at least the past 15 years.

The South West saw the number of homes above £1 million double (+104%) since 2019, helped by a vast increase in sales over £1 million in North Somerset (+163%), East Devon (+94%) and Cornwall (+86%) over the past year. Homes valued at £1 million or above now make up 2% of all housing stock in this market. 

However, Wales saw the largest percentage increase in property millionaires – up +146% on 2019. But, this region still accounts for the smallest percentage of one million pound properties (0.3%), accounting for just one in every 293 homes. 

In absolute terms, the largest increase in the number of property millionaires has been in the South East of England, where one in every 22.4 homeowners have seen their home tip over £1 million over the past three years. Hotspots Rother in East Sussex, and Epsom and Ewell in Surrey can partly account for this growth – with sales above £1 million increasing by +125% and +115% in 2022.

Elsewhere, there are now over 10,000 homes in Scotland worth over £1 million for the first time, over half of which are in Edinburgh.

Table 1: Number of £1m+ homes across Great Britain

Source: Savills Research

“Once a London phenomenon, new one million-pound hotspots have up across the breadth of Great Britain in the wake of the pandemic, as affluent home buyers changed priorities in the search for more space” continued Lucian Cook. “But as some of the lifestyle drivers ease, this rebalancing is likely to become somewhat less pronounced, with more buyer focus returning to the capital.”

London retains property millionaire crown

London locations continued to dominate the £1 million map, and homes valued at and above this price point now account for one in every 10.6 homes in the capital.

Although London has seen has seen the smallest percentage increase to its share of £1 million homes over the past three years, it’s seen +10,454 properties tip over the threshold in 2022, the highest absolute gain. Hillingdon (+95%) and Croydon (+81%) were the London boroughs which saw the largest increase in £1 million sales over the past year, albeit from a relatively low base relative to other boroughs.

Overall, there are still more £1 million homes across Westminster and the Kensington and Chelsea than in the North of England and Scotland combined.