Are you a millionaire yet? Give it another 15 years in your existing property and maybe you will be. As house prices continue to rise, the number of UK homes worth £1 million or more is expected to more than triple by 2030, according to a report by Santander Mortgages, making one in four London homeowners into property millionaires.
As it is, the proportion of million-pound homes is relatively small, the research found — less than 500,000 in the UK and only 1.77 per cent of the nation’s housing stock.
By 2020 this will rise to 689,000, and 2.37 per cent, and by 2030 it will be 1.6 million, and 5.14 per cent.
Of course, where you live in the country makes all the difference. Less than 1 per cent of properties in the northeast, Yorkshire and Humber, northwest, Scotland and the east Midlands will be worth more than £1 million in 2030. There are five counties or unitary authorities in the UK where not a single home is worth £1 million at present, including Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire and Torfaen. The Isles of Scilly has just one. Meanwhile, the ten richest counties or unitary authorities, most of them in the southeast, have in some cases double the average numbers of £1 million-plus homes.
Professor Paul Cheshire, the LSE’s Professor of Economic Geography, who helped to compile the research, says: “By 2030 the divide between housing haves at the top and the have-nots at the bottom will be wider than it is now. More owners will enjoy millionaire status, as homes that many would consider modest fetch seven-figure prices in the most sought-after areas. Property price inflation is beneficial for existing owners who will see their net wealth increase, but it will make entering the market more difficult still for new buyers, highlighting the importance of the right timing, advice, support and financial planning, and not just having a mum and dad who bought a house but a grandparent too.”
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We ask the agents about the most expensive, and most desirable, spots in the UK.
Greater London
Unsurprisingly, London tops the league with 8.9 per cent of its stock worth more than £1 million. By 2030, this will rise to 24.8 per cent.
Some traditionally less pricey boroughs are filling up with property millionaires such as Hackney, where, says Noah Ellis, the head of acquisitions and research at property developers Londonewcastle, according to Land Registry statistics, the average price paid as of December 2015 was £638,284. “This means average property prices would need to increase by 56 per cent between now and 2020, a little more than 9 per cent each year, which is not inconceivable.
“City Road, a corridor to east London’s silicon roundabout which straddles Hackney and Islington, is a hive of development activity. Two-bedroom flats in developments here, such as Atlas, frequently exceed £1 million. A quick search on Rightmove would suggest that period houses around Hoxton, Shoreditch and London Fields are already worth considerably more than £1 million, and areas such as Clapton and Stamford Hill are not lagging far behind.
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2. Windsor and Maidenhead
“Next to Windsor Great Park are some of the most expensive houses toin the country,” says Edward Heaton, of Heaton & Partners, a property search agency. Indeed, 6.6 per cent of the county’s property stock is worth more than £1 million. According to research by Savills, property prices in the area have increased by 44 per cent in the ten years up to 2015, while Hamptons International named Hurley, with its village pubs, shop and hairdressers, as the most expensive high street to live on outside of London.
“Here you will find a truly international crowd, from Russians, to Middle Eastern Royals, to billionaire Indians,” Heaton says. “Watch out for noise from Heathrow and the M4, but proximity to the West End is the real draw here.” The area may be boosted by the arrival of Crossrail at nearby Readingand Maidenhead stations.
3. Surrey
Where are the million-pound homes in Surrey? “Where aren’t they?” says Paul Frost, of Prime Purchase, a buying agency. “The international draws of St George’s Hill and Oxshott keep the prices well into the multimillions. Those looking for a more countryside feeling still head for Shamley Green and Munstead, to name a couple of the ‘Guildford villages’. The village green, local shop, nearby schools and the fact that it is less than an hour on the train to your central London desk means prices regularly stray into the £2 million and £3 million brackets. The very best can achieve prices of £20 million-plus.”
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Many of the owners of £1 million-plus houses in Surrey commute into London, says Bill Spreckley, a search agent at Stacks Property Search. “A lot of the more expensive areas follow the A3 and the neighbouring railway line in a southwest direction heading out of London: Esher, Cobham, Guildford, Godalming and Haslemere. Each of these towns has good rail connections to Waterloo, excellent schools and a variety of town or village houses to choose from.”
4. Buckinghamshire
Top roads in Beaconsfield, such as Ledborourgh Lane, are the “millionaires’ rows” of the area, with a £10 million house for sale there at the moment, says Mark Rimell, a partner at Strutt & Parker’s country department in the Buckinghamshire area. “A house sold for £6 million on nearby Penn Road, £4 million on Burkes Road, and we have a house on the market at £4.725 million on the outskirts of these areas.”
In Gerrards Cross, where 50 per cent of buyers have moved from London, the average property costs in excess of £1 million.
“Buyers come to Buckinghamshire, like many parts of the home counties, in search of bigger houses with better proportions, larger gardens and commuter links into London,” says Nick Pounce, the head of Savills’ Amersham office. “The retention of the excellent grammar-school system means it remains a desirable location for families.
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“Many buyers focus their search on the centres around Amersham and Beaconsfield so they’re in easy reach of the train stations with fast services, while the most coveted villages include The Chalfonts, Coleshill and Penn.”
5. Hertfordshire
“ ‘Smartfordshire’, as it’s known by those who live outside its borders, has a history of affluent homeowners and a long list of super villages where property is snapped up,” says Harriett Brownell, of Private Property Search. “Waiting buyers may be holding out for one of the lovely red-brick Georgian houses Much Hadham is known for, or a sprawling early 20th-century mansion on several acres with a great view, in Essendon.”
About 3.1 per cent of the housing stock in Hertfordshire is worth more than £1 million, that is 14,976 homes, double the amount available in 2015. This number is predicted to rise to 56,374 by 2030. The priciest homes include Ashbourne Manor, a grade II listed Victorian country house in Widford, near Ware, with the coat of arms of its owners, Viscount and Viscountess Dangan, on the dining-room ceiling. It is on the market for £3.85 million.
6. Oxfordshire
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Oxfordshire’s million-pound count is not quite as high as Hertfordshire’s with 8,175 homes worth more than £1 million, but that is still 3 per cent of its stock, a proportion expected to rise to 3.6 per cent by 2020 and 8.4 per cent by 2030.
Henley-on-Thames is a hotspot, where average detached houses sell for £1.19 million, though the most expensive property for sale in Oxfordshire is a £19 million, grade II listed Georgian house with 13 bedrooms and 257 acres in Kingstone Lisle, on the market with Strutt & Parker.
In Oxford properties are a little cheaper, with the average detached home going for £806,526, according to the Land Registry, but the city has been tipped as an area to watch for house-price growth this year because of its top schools and job market.
7. Poole
There are parts of Poole, a unitary authority separate from Dorset, which, after London, Manhattan and Moscow, have been named the most expensive place in the world to live. Nevertheless, there are at the moment under 2,000 homes worth £1 million in the area. This number is expected to rise to just under 6,000 by 2030.
Robin Gould, of Prime Purchase, a buying agency, says: “The obvious place in Poole for expensive homes is Sandbanks, where pretty much everything, including flats, is more than £1 million. The nearby area of Canford Cliffs also has a high proportion of high-value stock, as does Studland, across the water, and all along the coast.”
Savills is selling a five-bedroom, architect-designed home in Branksome Park, Poole, for £2.75 million. It is “located on the desirable side of one of the most sought-after roads, renowned for its prestigious homes” and less than a mile from the beach.
8. West Berkshire
“West Berkshire has what I would describe as the first proper countryside west of London,” Heaton says. “There is a perfect mix of pretty farmhouses and country homes in leafy, rural surrounds that don’t have the suburban feel of counties like Surrey. Villages such as Inkpen and Kintbury are popular, and the Woodhays have the greatest draw, attracting prices to match. For £1 million you can buy a pretty, four-bedroom detached cottage in a good village.”
Charlie Wells, the managing director of the buying agency Prime Purchase, agrees: “It was the first carriage stop out of London with one run of horses, so was a good place to establish a country house. There are many large estates with historic parkland, which has contributed to the preservation of the landscape, and many of the farmhouses are actually manor houses as opposed to more humble dwellings.
“In terms of the most expensive areas, they are anything around Hungerford and villages such as Lambourn, Brightwalton and Chaddleworth.”
9. Bath and northeast Somerset
The proportion of £1 million properties in Bath and the surrounding Somerset villages is expected to rise by 2030 to 6.3 per cent, as the city outperforms many areas in the UK. Last year, prices rose by 4.5 per cent, compared to a 3.1 per cent rise across the prime country market, according to Claire Owen, the senior buying consultant at The Buying Solution, who says Bath is increasingly on her clients’ radars. “The city is undertaking large-scale regeneration, which is likely to underpin demand. January saw a flurry of activity in Bath and the surrounds, but with a lack of prime stock and an increased number of buyers this could result in competitive bidding for best-in-class properties and potentially push prime prices up by more than we saw in 2015.
“The cultural centre of Bath is becoming a popular destination in the UK for British and international property buyers. This could be a reflection of the new developments and increasingly cosmopolitan feel of the region, where we are now seeing planning applications for new luxury hotels and casinos, and an increase in the number and popularity of food and literary festivals.”
10. Brighton and Hove
At the moment, Brighton and Hove has a slightly below-average proportion of £1 million-plus properties, at 1.4 per cent, but this will change by 2030 when they increase to 6.9 per cent — above the predicted UK average of 5.14 per cent.
Sally Fraser, of Stacks Property Search, says, “The value of property has risen year on year, with three-bedroom Victorian terraced homes in the Clifton area, which is a close to the centre of Brighton, achieving just below the £1 million mark. The larger terraced Regency houses in the Clifton and Montpelier areas range from £1.75 million to more than £2 million. These houses have back yards or postage stamp-sized gardens.
“Roedean shouldn’t be overlooked, with many residents refurbishing their properties to take full advantage of the glorious uninterrupted views over the sea and marina. Some of these new glass boxes command prices of £2 million to £3.5 million.
“Many houses in the Hove Park area have already reached that magic number £1 million, and if you really want top end, look at Tongdean Road or the top end of Dyke Road, where the larger houses with good-sized gardens exchange hands for about £4 million.”