New research has revealed where the most £1m+ properties are selling as a percentage of total transactions, despite the influence of market uncertainty, which has been most prevalent in the upper tiers of the property market.
Benham and Reeves pulled the latest data from the Land Registry for the last year, breaking down transactions by price to find which areas had seen the most market activity at the £1m price point and above, £5m and above and £10m and above, as well as how this translated as a proportion of all transactions during the same period.
The data shows that transactions at £1m and above accounted for 1.8% of all transactions, and despite the capital being worst hit by political uncertainty and buyer hesitation, London remains the £1m+ playground for high-end homebuyers, accounting for 13 of the top 15 areas where sales at £1m or above accounted for the highest percentage of all transactions.
Of course, prime central London topped the table, with Kensington and Chelsea remaining the most prestigious corner of the capital, seeing no less than 59% of all property sales coming in at a mill or more.
Westminster was home to the second-highest proportion of high-end property sales, with 46% selling for £1m+. Camden (35%), the City of London (34%) and Hammersmith and Fulham (32%) also ranked high.
Other boroughs to make the top 15 included Richmond, Islington, Southwark and Merton.
Outside of London, Elmbridge and South Bucks saw 21% of transactions exceed £1m, with Chiltern (12%), St Albans (10%), Windsor and Maidenhead, Three Rivers and Guildford also hitting 9%.
It’s a similar story at the higher price brackets, although a more marginal percentage, with £5m+ transactions accounting for just 0.04% of all transactions, while this dropped to 0.01% for transactions of £10m+.
While Kensington, Westminster and Camden placed with the highest proportion of transactions as a percentage of all transactions at both the £5m+ and £10m+ price brackets, Runnymead was a new entry, with the area ranking fourth in both price brackets.
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented, “There’s no denying that month after month of uncertainty surrounding Brexit had caused the market to grind to stutter, and at the very top end, where even the smallest margins can equate to substantial sums of money, there had understandably been a sharp drop in buyer interest.
While this has seen transaction levels fall in the upper price tiers, there hasn’t been a total exodus, and as our research shows, London, in particular, has remained a very attractive proposition to the wealthiest buyers.
Now that we’ve seen the bottom of the market and a Boris bounce has opened the floodgates of both buyer and seller activity, domestic and foreign investment in the most valuable pockets of the market should start to regain momentum.
Those that did commit to purchase over the last year have done well in terms of value for money, as the top tiers of the market are often those susceptible to the most dramatic swings in price once the cogs do start to turn, and will no doubt start to climb in price as the year plays out.”
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