The number of "property millionaires" — owners of homes worth over £1 million — fell by four per cent in 2023, reports Savills.
A total of 12,280 homes fell out of the £1 million plus bracket last year as house prices dropped across the capital by an average of six per cent.
But there are still 330,668 houses in London whose owners are paid-up members of the property millionaires club.
In fact, the city saw the smallest drop in numbers of £1 million plus houses across the UK, and there are still 30,750 more million-pound-plus-houses in London than there were in 2019.
"Increased mortgage costs and a rebalancing of demand back to city living have meant about 30 per cent of those whose homes crossed the £1 million threshold, have, for the time being at least, become aspiring million pound homeowners once again," said Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills.
London now has just under half of the houses valued at over seven figures in the UK, as house prices rose in the regions.
“New one million-pound hotspots popped up across the breadth of Great Britain in the wake of the pandemic, as affluent home buyers changed priorities in the search for more space,” explained Cook.
“In 2023, prime property prices held up stronger in the capital than across the rest of the country (-1.1 per cent versus -4.8 per cent), meaning London boroughs have been more easily been able to hold on to their share of £1 million property sales.”
Of the top ten boroughs with the most expensive home sales of 2023, London accounted for eight of them.
Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Richmond Upon Thames saw the most houses sold for over £1 million pounds in 2023.
In the desirable heart of prime central London, there were 1,600 seven-figure homes sold in Kensington & Chelsea, and 1,554 sold in Westminster.
Some of these sales could have been (relative) bargains, as many wealthy owners knocked millions off their asking prices last year to tempt buyers in a slow market.
Even if your house isn't worth a million, you could still be quids in.
Recent research from Hamptons showed that people who bought a house in London in the last 20 years and sold up in 2023 got £204,190 more than they paid for them.
If you owned your home for the standard 9.5 years, that's £21,500 a year 'earned' just by staying in the same house.
Local authority (LA) |
Region |
£1m+ agreed sales in 2023 |
% of all agreed sales in LA |
Kensington & Chelsea |
London |
1,600 |
61.6% |
Westminster |
London |
1,554 |
48.6% |
Camden |
London |
883 |
37.8% |
Hammersmith & Fulham |
London |
908 |
37% |
Richmond upon Thames |
London |
849 |
31.9% |
Elmbridge |
South East |
759 |
29.3% |
City of London |
London |
43 |
26.9% |
Islington |
London |
684 |
26.2% |
Wandsworth |
London |
1,357 |
24.2% |
Mole Valley |
South East |
313 |
19.2% |
