Number of Britons living in £1million homes to soar to 500,000 this year as high demand and foreign buyers cause property boom
05-04-2014
* More than 500,000 Britons will be living in million-pound homes by 2015
* 9,000 homeowners a month will see value of their house top £1million
* Number is up 50 per cent on October 2007 when recession began
* High demand, lack of supply, and foreign investment behind price boom
The number of Britons living in home worth £1million is set to increase by 9,000 every month until 2015
So far this year 35,000 British homeowners have already seen the value of their homes top £1million, with the vast majority of those being in London (pictured)
However, in signs that the house-price recovery is moving out of the capital, the south east and south west recorded large rises in the number of property millionaires, with Wales and Yorkshire also seeing small increases.
According to research conducted by property website zoopla.co.uk for The Telegraph, the total number of homes valued at more than £1million grew by 34,374 in four months to the end of April to a total of 427,501.
More than half of that total, 271,000, were in London, where average prices have risen to £414,490 meaning that 31,000 extra people are now inhabiting million-pound homes.
The average cost of a three-bed family home in 'prime' areas of the city is now £1.67million and expected to rise to £2million by 2015, with the definition of 'prime' now includes
High demand and foreign investment is largely behind the spike in prices. Earlier this week an Eastern European buyer paid £140million for a penthouse at One Hyde Park (pictured), a record for a flat in Britain
The average cost of a three-bedroom home in 'prime' areas of London is expected to be £2milllion by 2015. This flat in Grosvenor Square in the most expensive per-square-foot in Mayfair, and costs a whopping total of £18million
In the UK as a whole, the average house now costs £180,000, a jump of 7.9 per cent since December last year and the largest annual rise since October 2007.
The cost of an average home is now at its highest level since June 2008. In February 2013, the average price was £163,468.
While demand for property is causing house values to peak across the South, the North and Midlands saw falls in the number of million-pound houses.
The spike in property values is being caused by demand far outstripping supply, with foreign investors also driving values up.
It is not just London that has since houses jump in price, with values rising across the south. Actress Vivien Leigh's home in Sussex recently went on sale for £3.5million
Earlier this week Penthouse D at One Hyde Park became the most expensive flat ever sold in the UK after a wealthy Eastern European snapped up the unfurnished property for £140million.