Region sees surge in sales of £1m homes
SALES of homes priced at over £1 million have surged since lockdown, with parts of the South West among the regions seeing the biggest price jumps and the largest hike in sales.
Affluent buyers searching for more space and a lifestyle change are increasingly looking to the West Country, pushing up the price of more homes to over £1 million, analysis suggests.
Overall, 2,022 sales of homes worth that price or more were completed in the South West up to the end of September – a jump of 38 per cent on the year before.
Other regions recording big jumps include Yorkshire and the Humber, which saw a rise of 44 per cent, and the West Midlands, recording 35 per cent – but both on far fewer sales of £1m-plus homes.
Only London, with 9,403 £1m-plus sales, and the South East, with 6,560, saw more homes sold in that price bracket – but both saw smaller increases, year on year.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: “Relocation and staycation locations such as the Cotswolds, South Oxfordshire, Dorset, Cornwall and Wiltshire have been stand-out performers.”
Among the homes up for more than £1 million that recently sold was Trevail House in Fowey, the home of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who reportedly bought it for £1.96m in 2017 and sold it earlier this year off an advertised price of £2.75m. The seafront property was marketed by agents John Bray and Partners.
Ramsay has other properties in Cornwall, including in Rock, where many homes come with a £1 millionplus price tag.
Across the UK, an average of 868 £1m-plus sales have been agreed each week since the start of June, two-thirds (66 per cent) higher than the weekly average of 522 over the same period in 2019, according to data from Savills and TwentyCi.
Despite the housing market effectively being shut down for part of the year, a total of 22,586 sales were agreed in the first three-quarters of 2020, 16 per cent higher than in the same period in 2019, the report said.
Mr Cook said the findings point to a rebalancing of the market. He added: “Whereas sales in London rose by four per cent in the first nine months of the year, they are up 27 per cent across the rest of the UK – albeit London still accounts for over four in ten sales with a £1m-plus price tag.”
Mr Cook continued: “Lifestyle relocation has been a big theme in the market since lockdown began to ease, and this is very clearly reflected in the numbers.”
He added that those moving out of London but looking for a less dramatic lifestyle shift and a more accessible commute were turning to places such as Tunbridge Wells, Guildford and Winchester.
Scotland was the only part of the UK to see a dip in £1m-plus sales, but Savills said the market there remained strong.
The figures come as the average price tag on a home in Britain hit a record high of £323,530 in October, according to a property website. Asking prices were 1.1 per cent, or £3,534 in cash terms, higher than in September, Rightmove said.
Prices are now 5.5 per cent, or £16,818, higher than a year ago, marking the biggest rate of increase for more than four years, it added.
Despite the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, with the associated job losses and mortgage lenders having pulled many low-deposit loans, Rightmove predicted the annual rate of price growth could peak at around seven per cent before the end of this year.
A temporary stamp duty cut introduced in July has given buyers a window of opportunity to save money on their moving costs, but some sellers may be getting too optimistic about what people will pay, the report said.
38 Percentage rise in sales of £1m-plus homes in the South West