More homes changed hands for at least £1m in the first half of this year than in the same period of 2015, despite high stamp duty bills and uncertainty ahead of the EU referendum.
The number of £1m property sales was up by 12% year-on-year to 6,684, according to Lloyds bank, more than offsetting a 6% fall the previous year.
However, changes to the way stamp duty is charged, introduced in 2014’s autumn statement, added to the upfront costs of all homes over £1m, and have dampened sales at the top end of the market
, prompting a fall in the average price of homes in this part of the market. In the first six months of 2014, high-end homes had an average selling price of £1.8m, although that had fallen to £1.7m by this year.
The figures, which are based on data from the Land Registry and Lloyds, show that 4,238 of the sales were recorded in London, which recorded an 8% increase year-on-year. In the north-east of England £1m-plus sales increased by 83%, to just 11.
Lloyds said that during the first half of the year, Virginia Water in Surrey was Britain’s only “million pound town”, with the average of all recorded sales running into seven figures.
The fall in sales at the very top of the market has led to an increase in the number of “super-prime” lettings, according to data from property firms LonRes and Knight Frank.
The number of lets agreed at a cost of at least £5,000 a week rose by 16% in the 12 months to September, to 109. Tom Smith, head of super-prime lettings at Knight Frank, said stamp duty changes had altered the dynamics of the London market.
“Given the higher running costs buyers also face, stamp duty can be a concern unless they plan to be in a property for the long-term,” he said. “This is particularly the case while uncertainty surrounds the short-term prospects for price growth.”
