London is long-established as the most expensive region of the UK, with average house prices double those of the rest of the country.
But while homes in the most expensive parts of the capital have stagnated in price as affordability has been stretched to the limit, property values in some of the less pricey areas have shot up.
Indeed, since 2019 the number of homes costing £1 million or more has more than doubled in seven London boroughs, with Lewisham seeing the biggest jump, according to new research from Rightmove.
The outer south-east London borough is home to areas such as Brockley, which has become increasingly popular with buyers looking to upsize to family houses and priced out of hipster hotspots like nearby Peckham, New Cross and even Hackney.
As a result, the number of property millionaires has shot up 163 per cent in six years.
Hillingdon in outer west London has seen an increase of 156 per cent; £1m+ homes in south London's Croydon are up 138 per cent; in Harrow they have risen 135 per cent and in Havering the increase is 133 per cent. The two remaining boroughs where numbers have more than doubled are Redbridge (104 per cent) and Bromley (101 per cent).
London has the largest number of million-pound homes for sale of any region, with Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Wandsworth having the most on the books.
Richmond in south-west London, routinely voted the happiest place to live, is the latest area where the average asking price now exceeds £1 million.
Meanwhile, around one in every 20 homes for sale in Britain is now priced at £1 million-plus with the number of areas outside London where the average asking price is £1 million or more has more than doubled since 2019, up from 30 to 66 locations.
Rightmove said the number of homes for sale at a seven-figure price point has doubled in the past six years.
It recorded a 103 per cent increase in homes at this price point between January and April 2025, compared with the same period in 2019.
Just over five per cent of homes for sale across Britain are now priced at a million pounds or more, compared with just under three per cent in 2019, Rightmove said.
In London commuter belt locations such as St Albans, Windsor and Maidenhead, Three Rivers, and Waverley, around one in every five homes for sale now have a million-pound price tag.
Cornwall has seen the biggest surge in the number of £1 million-plus properties on the market for sale compared with before the coronavirus pandemic, according to the website.
Many seaside locations saw a “race for space” among home buyers during the pandemic.
Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove, said: “The surge in million-pound homes for sale across Great Britain is substantial.
“Since 2019, we’ve seen the number of million-pound homes for sale double, with over five per cent of the market now priced at a million pounds or more.
“This isn’t just happening in London; places like Cornwall, Uttlesford, and Somerset are also seeing big jumps in the number of high-value properties.
“Mole Valley is a standout, with 22 per cent of its homes for sale now in the million-pound bracket.”
Local areas included in Rightmove’s research were those with at least 10 or more homes for sale during the time periods analysed.
The areas with the biggest concentrations of £1 million homes:
1. Westminster, London
2. Kensington and Chelsea, London
3. Wandsworth, London
4. Buckinghamshire, South East
5. Camden, London
6. Hammersmith and Fulham, London
7. Barnet, London
8. Richmond upon Thames, London
9. Elmbridge, South East
10. Lambeth, London
