London retains its crown as the capital of £1 million homes

Despite a pandemic-induced surge in demand for spacious and rural properties, London remains the undisputed leader in the £1 million home market, a new report by Savills shows.

The property firm estimates that there are 670,100 homes worth £1 million or more in Great Britain, down by 8.3% from 2022, but still up by 28% from 2019.

The total value of these homes is £1.32 trillion, a slight dip from £1.43 trillion in 2022.

Sharp rise in the number of £1 million homes

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, says that the shift in buyer preferences since mid-2020 led to a sharp rise in the number of £1 million homes outside of London and other urban areas.

He says: “However, increased mortgage costs and a rebalancing of demand back to city living have meant about 30% of the those whose homes crossed the £1 million threshold, have, for the time being at least, become aspiring million-pound homeowners once again.”

London recorded the smallest decline in property millionaires (-4.0%) in 2023, followed by Scotland (-5%).

Biggest drop in property millionaires

Regions outside of London saw the biggest drop in property millionaires, but the number of £1 million homes outside of London is still 52% higher than 2019.

Wales (113%), the North East (79%) and the East Midlands (79%) have witnessed the most significant increase in housing stock valued at £1 million or more over that period.

Separate analysis by research firm TwentyCI of £1 million-plus sales that occurred in 2023 shows that London locations continue to dominate the £1 million map.

The boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham and Richmond upon Thames had the highest percentage of sales over £1 million in 2023.

Homes selling for more than £1 million

London locations made up eight of the top 10 local authorities of homes selling for more than £1 million, joined by Elmbridge and Mole Valley outside of London.

Mr Cook said: “New one million-pound hotspots popped 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.

“However, in 2023, prime property prices held up stronger in the capital than across the rest of the Country (-1.1% vs -4.8%), meaning London boroughs have been more easily been able to hold on to their share of £1 million property sales.”