Capital time for luxury homes

HOMES worth £1million or more are selling like hot cakes in Edinburgh, according to a property report.

Luxury homes in the capital take an average of 53 days to sell – faster than anywhere else in the UK other than Cambridgeshire, where such properties sell in 45 days on average.

Miles Shipside of Rightmove, which produced the report, said: ‘Hotspots like Cambridge have helped the east of England take over the mantle from London in recent years.

‘The Scottish million-pound plus market has also picked up as the increased activity in the overall housing market in Scotland is having a positive knock-on effect on the higher end, especially in cities like Edinburgh.’

Simon Rettie, managing director of estate agent Rettie & Co in Scotland, commented in the report: ‘As confidence and demand has picked up in the overall Scottish market recently, this has led to millionpound homes selling much more quickly again.

‘The buyers are often families or professionals, or those that are looking for a second home.’

The top five fastest selling million-pound locations are all outside London. Jointsecond with Edinburgh came Harpenden in Hertfordshire, a popular area with London commuters.

Bristol and St Albans complete the top five, with top-end homes there selling in 54 days and 60 days on average.

Rightmove also found that it takes five days longer to secure a buyer for a millionpound home on average than it did a year ago, when sellers typically sat it out for 94 days.

Hackney, Golders Green and Brixton in London also made Rightmove’s top ten list of the fastest-selling million-pound property hotspots.

Homes priced in this bracket take 62, 64 and 65 days to sell on average in these parts of the city, respectively.