The number of property millionaires in London have decreased by 35,000 as house prices in the capital reduce in 2018.
Data from Zoopla shows there were 733,777 homeowners in the UK with properties of £1 million or more accounting for 2.5% of housing stock with over half or 395,871 located in London.
Falling house prices in 2018 resulted in 34,849 fewer property millionaires in the capital although for first time buyers and home movers will struggle to afford the average property values of £654,730.
For other regions the South East of England has 171,454 million-pound homes followed by East of England on 76,077 and South West England with 34,367.
Annabel Dixon spokesperson for Zoopla said, it’s hard to ignore the overall decline in million-pound properties in the past 12 months, but it is clear to see the majority of this decline resides in London.
London borough property hotspots
The London borough with the most properties over £1 million is Westminster with 54,137 followed by Kensington and Chelsea on 44,130 and Camden on 34,569.
The following table from Zoopla shows the top ten London boroughs with properties of £1 million and more in 2018.
| Borough | Number of homes | Property value |
|---|---|---|
| Westminster | 54,137 | £1,155,290 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 44,130 | £2,049,570 |
| Camden | 34,569 | £1,065,018 |
| Wandsworth | 30,048 | £769,366 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 28,542 | £976,366 |
| Barnet | 23,439 | £669,777 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 23,175 | £902,308 |
| Islington | 20,631 | £774,705 |
| Lambeth | 16,638 | £708,735 |
| Southwark | 15,188 | £717,344 |
For outer London boroughs the numbers are lower with Barking and Dagenham with just 22 property millionaires and an average property value for the area of £302,196.
Next is Newham with 522 properties over £1 million followed by Bexley on 673 where average values for both boroughs are under £400,000.
With higher house prices in the capital, buy-to-let landlords making a new purchase may look to outer London for affordable properties to help improve rental yields.
For remortgage buyers with million-pound homes at the end of your mortgage deal, avoid the lenders expensive variable rate and rebroke to a preferential rate to reduce your monthly repayment costs.
For older homeowners, high property values allow the equity release buyer to access wealth using a lifetime mortgage, reducing the estates inheritance tax by giving a grandchild the deposit on their first home.
Regions with the strongest growth
During the year the East of England had the strongest growth in million-pound homes with 6,237 new property millionaires increasing 8.9% to a total of 76,077 for the region.
The West Midlands has seen gains with 1,002 more homes worth over £1 million rising 8.2% for a total of 13,221 with the North West England up 329 and Yorkshire and The Humber rising 203 homes.
Wales has also experienced good growth with 150 new property millionaires increasing 6.7% and totalling 2,373.
Individual towns with the highest number of million-pound homes were Guildford at 5,615 ahead of Cambridge with 5,426 followed by Sevenoaks on 5,188, St Albans with 4,889 and Edinburgh on 4,818.
Cobham in Surrey had the highest proportion with 44.3% of homes in the town valued over £1 million followed by Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire at 44.2%.
For home movers leaving areas with high property values to areas with lower values, they may have extra equity for a deposit to buy a larger home or can reduce their mortgage.
What are your next steps?
Talk to our London City Mortgage advisers if you are an older homeowner releasing equity from your property, we can recommend the lifetime mortgage to access wealth to pay for care at home or buy a more expensive home.
Learn more by using the equity release calculator, property value tracker chart and mortgage monthly costs calculator. Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details.
At LCM our mortgage brokers can provide advice if you are a first time buyer, moving home, want to remortgage your existing home to a new cost effective mortgage deal or are a buy-to-let investor.