Surge in house prices creates another 40,000 property millionaires… in just one year 

Surge in house prices creates another 40,000 property millionaires… in just one year

  • Soaring property prices have created almost 40,000 property millionaires 
  • There are now 563,240 homes worth more than £1 million in Britain 
  •  Marks first time the number of million-pound properties has grown since 2015

Soaring property prices have created almost 40,000 property millionaires over the past year – almost all of them outside London.

There are now 563,240 homes worth more than £1 million in Britain – 39,629 more than there were in 2019, according to data collected by estate agency Savills for The Sunday Times.

This is the first time the number of million-pound properties has grown since 2015, and just 6,657 of those created in 2020 were located in the capital. 

Soaring property prices have created almost 40,000 property millionaires over the past year (File image) 

Areas including Three Rivers in Hertfordshire, Chiltern in Buckinghamshire, and Harrogate in North Yorkshire now boast a healthy number of seven-figure homes.

House prices shot up 7.3 per cent over the year to a six-year high at the end of 2020, according to Nationwide.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, told The Sunday Times: ‘It is quite staggering how house price growth has created so many paper millionaires. No-one would have believed it 25 years ago.

‘Property has been a source of wealth and financial security for a lucky generation who have collectively accumulated more than £1 trillion in wealth.’

Wealthy London boroughs still top the list for having the highest concentration of £1 million-plus houses.

Kensington and Chelsea ranks highest, where 37.6 per cent of homes in the borough are worth more than £1 million.

It is followed closely by the City of London, Westminster, and the leafy commuter borough of Elmbridge in Surrey.

Despite the disruption which the pandemic caused in the housing market during the first lockdown last year, house prices continued to climb over 2020.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the average property in the UK was worth £249,633 at the end of November.

Prices were boosted by pent-up demand when the first lockdown ended in June, and the cut in stamp duty brought in by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to boost activity.But many experts are expecting the rate of growth to slow this year, while Savills thinks prices will be flat over the next 12 months.