View of mansion blocks in London.
Sales of houses worth at least £1 million (S$1.79 million) in the UK soared by 195 percent between 2011 and 2016, while total residential transactions during the period only increased by 54 percent, reported the Express.
Transactions of such costly houses also rose by 10 percent in the last two years, even though the government implemented tougher stamp duty rules in December 2014 and April 2016.
Since 2011, London has recorded the highest growth for such deals, but it was surpassed by Kent, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Greater Manchester in the last two years, based on statistics from the Land Registry.
If this trend continues, areas outside Greater London are expected to account for at least 51 percent of such sales in 2017, compared to only 37 percent in 2011.
In fact, the UK House Price Index revealed that the cost of houses in Yorkshire, the Humber, East of England, the South-west, West Midlands, South-east and East Midlands are now increasing at a faster rate than in London on an annual basis.
“With buyers looking further afield as a result, this has contributed to significant growth in the number of £1million-plus transactions in areas like Kent, Essex and the Home Counties, which are all within easy commuting distance of London,” said Shaun Church from Private Finance.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
