12
May
£1 million property sales rise by 36%
Halifax has found that the number of properties in the UK selling
for one million pounds rose by 36 per cent last year.
According to its research, the figures were far higher for Scotland
and the north-east, which recorded increases of 138 per cent and
136 per cent respectively.
Despite those steep rises, 78 per cent of the 8,257 million pound
property sales in 2007 were in London and the south-east, with
Kensington and Chelsea recording the highest number.
In 1997 London's share of properties in England and Wales selling
for £1 million stood at 77 per cent, but that has now declined
to 56 per cent as other areas of the south-east have seen property
values rise steeply.
Gordon Edwards, managing director of Halifax Estate Agents,
commented: "Although there has been a marked increase in the number
of million pound property sales over the past decade, a small
number of local authority areas in London continue to account for
the significant majority of £1 million sales."
According to the bank's latest house price index, UK prices fell by
1.3 per cent last month.
