Over the past decade the number of homes sold for more than a million pounds has increased by 73% even with depressed market demand.

Research from Lloyds Bank reveals sales of properties worth £1m pounds and over have increased 5% for the year in 2017 and is 73% higher than a decade ago.

There were 14,474 sales of homes worth a million pounds increasing from 13,748 in 2016 and significantly higher than the 8,379 in 2007.

Not surprisingly 80% of the house sales were in London with 8,308 and in the South East with 3,377 and a further 1,208 were in the East of England.

For wealthy home movers leaving areas with the high values such as London to areas with lower values in the regions, they could still gain in terms of the property size and features yet at a similar price.

High growth outside of South East

Over the year London million pound house sales have increased by only 1%, the South East is higher by 12% and the East of England rising only 1%.

The highest rise is Yorks and the Humber up 60% from 42 homes worth £1m to 88 in 2017 followed by the North West increasing 46% from 202 homes to 294.

The following table from Lloyds Bank shows the number of million pound house sales for over the last decade and the percentage change.

Region	2007	2017	Change
London	4,525	8,308	84%
South East	2,066	3,377	63%
East of England	604	1,208	100%
South West	385	676	76%
North West	242	294	21%
West Midlands	112	198	77%
Scotland	222	158	-29%
Yorks and the Humber	88	133	51%
East Midlands	81	72	-11%
North East	34	27	-21%
Wales	20	23	15%

Some regions in the country have decreased with Scotland down -29%, North East lower by -21% and East Midlands reducing -11%.

The sale of £1m properties has remained strong in contrast to the overall market where first time buyers and home movers are struggling to find suitable homes due to limited choice.

The lack of new home could mean remortgage buyers staying at home and increasing their mortgage to releasing capital which they can use to improve their home.

Rise of house sales not steady

In the past ten years the rise in million pound house sales has not been steady and in 2012 sales were particularly poor with only 7,862 transactions, almost half current levels.

Louise Santaana Head of UK Wealth Lending at Lloyds said, the million pound property market got off to a poor start last year, but made a good recovery in the second half.

Overall, 2017 was slow for the UK economy with high inflation and low wage growth but high end homeowners and investors are starting to regain their confidence in the market.

Buy-to-let landlords are likely to avoid expensive home and look for affordable properties to help improve rental yields.

The only area in which million pound home sales fell last year was the East Midlands down -23% from 94 last year to 72 this year.

There are thousands of homeowners occupying £1m properties across the country, many of whom may be considering downsizing, relocating or extensions their existing homes, says Ms Santaana.

For older homeowners, value in their million pound homes allows the equity release buyer to access wealth using a lifetime mortgage to maintain their lifestyle, or gift to a child or grandchild for a deposit on their first home.

What are your next steps?

Speak to our LCM mortgage advisers if you are planning to move home, buying your first home, remortgaging your existing home to a new cost effective mortgage deal or are a buy-to-let investor.

Learn more by using the mortgage monthly cost calculators, equity release calculator and property value tracker chart. Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details.

For equity release buyers our London City Mortgage brokers can recommend lifetime mortgages allowing you to receive cash from your property to help maintain your standard of living as costs rise.

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