Casa Blog – UK Property Search

The number of property sales exceeding £1 million in England and Wales has increased by almost three-fold in the past five years, according to research by Halifax Estate Agents.

A study based on Land Registry data for 2,098 postcode districts in England and Wales revealed that there were 6,170 homes sold above £1 million in the 12 months to June 2007, compared with 2,249 in the corresponding period in 2002.

There are now an estimated 88,000 homes valued above the one million pound mark in England and Wales, compared with 30,000 five years ago.

Unsurprisingly, London accounted for the majority of million pound property sales in the past year at 58 percent, however that figure has fallen from 68 percent five years ago.

Colin Kemp, managing director at Halifax Estate Agents said, “Million pound property sales are now taking place right across England and Wales and not just in inner London.”

One-third of all postcode districts in England and Wales had million pound sales in the last year, nearly double the number in five years ago.

“At the same time, million pound property clusters are emerging. In London, million pound sales are centred on Kensington and Chelsea. There are other clusters around Cobham, Esher and Weybridge in Surrey and around Altrincham, Macclesfield and Wilmslow in Cheshire,” he added.

Nationwide Building Society recently stated that the average price of a house in the UK stood at £183,898 last month.

The Bank of England kept rates on hold last week at 5.75 per cent, however figures revealed that households face the highest mortgage rates for nine years.

Britain’s second-biggest mortgage lender Abbey has become the first High Street bank to raise its mortgage rates.  Other major lenders are likely to follow.

The increase - of between 0.1% and 0.2% - applies to the lender’s tracker mortgages. And to new customers only. The bank cites the recent turmoil in global credit markets as the principal reason for making its move now.

The so-called credit crunch, which started in the US sub-prime mortgage market but has since spread, makes it more costly for banks to borrow to money. And when that happens banks invariably pass the cost on to customers.

Howard Archer, of financial analysts Global Insight said: ‘A substantial number of homeowners will see their mortgage bills rise markedly during the latter months of the year as the cheap fixedrates they took out two years ago expire.

‘Meanwhile, the higher money market interest rates resulting from the current financial market turmoil means that some mortgage rates are set to rise.’

The Council of Mortgage Lenders warned last month there has been a 30% rise in repossessions in the past year.

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