Lockdown turbocharges Britain's millionaire property market
Cash-rich upsizers searching for rural living are leading the property market “mini-boom” and have turbocharged sales of Britain’s most expensive homes.
The number of £1m-plus house sales agreed in August was more than double (105pc) than in August 2019, new data from property website Rightmove showed. Million-pound homes were sold within 63 days of being listed – 18 days faster than in 2019.
The jump in sales outpaces the national average increase of 61pc by 44 percentage points.
Norfolk, Wiltshire and Cornwall were Britain’s hottest millionaire markets. Between July and August, the number of agreed £1m-plus sales jumped 244pc, 174pc and 165pc respectively, compared with 2019.
All of the top ten counties offer countryside scenery while seven are coastal showing the shift to rural, outdoors lifestyles has driven demand.
However, the surge in demand has not been seen to the same extent in cheaper parts of the housing market and there is a growing wealth divide among those who can and cannot buy.
The pandemic created a cocktail of new reasons to move. Lockdown and home-working has placed a new importance on living space.
A stamp duty holiday, announced in July, has meant anyone buying a property before March 31 could save up to £15,000 on the cost of a purchase.
The boost to sales has taken place because Britain’s wealthy homeowners have been relatively immune to the financial impact of coronavirus.
They are more likely to have been able to work remotely, therefore able to move away from urban areas, and to have enough savings or equity to fund upscale purchases.
However, entry-level buyers have been shut out of the market. Lenders have withdrawn low-deposit mortgages, typical for aspiring homeowners, with the minimum required deposit up to 15pc.
Even here, the ongoing interest cost of a 15pc mortgage has risen while loans for more expensive homes, and for those with larger deposits, have fallen alongside the Bank of England's interest rate cut.
Tim Bannister, of Rightmove, said the £1m plus sector is moving at “a pace not seen since back in 2014.”
That year marked a turning point for much of the prime market after then Chancellor George Osborne raised the stamp duty charges on higher-priced homes.
London has not participated in the million-pound boom despite having the country's highest concentration of £1m-plus properties. Sales are only up 64pc, around the average for all properties.
However, it still houses the country’s fastest-moving micro-markets. Between May 13, when the English housing market reopened, and August 31, £1m homes in Hackney, in north-east London, took just 23 days to find a buyer.
