£1m homes boom in capital

The number of homes sold in London for more than £1 million has soared - and the top-bracket property market is spreading to new areas of the capital.

Sales of homes worth £1 million and above rose 76 per cent in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year, new research reveals today.

There was also a 58 per cent increase in sales at £2 million or more. And figures compiled by Halifax, from Land Registry statistics, show there are only five boroughs in London where no homes have been sold for a million or more.

Outer London boroughs such as Redbridge, Barnet, Ealing and Haringey all saw significant rises in million-pound home sales. Halifax estimates that around 28,500 properties in London are worth at least £1 million compared with just 2,600 in 1995.

In the first six months of this year, 1,235 homes were sold for £1 million or more - almost 50 sales a week. Of the total, 257 homes sold for more than £2 million. In some parts of London, millionpound properties are being sold for the first time.

Sales in Redbridge rose from one in 2003 to four this year, and eight more are on the market, including the tower of Tavistock House. In Bromley million-plus sales went up by 271 per cent, from seven to 26, of which three were for more than £2 million.

The trend towards more expensive properties in London's outer boroughs is also seen in Barnet, where the number rose from 34 to 61. As the " millionaires' row" of Bishop's Avenue is in Barnet, sales at over £2 million also rose from nine to 13. The Wimbledon area accounts for most of the millionplus sales in Merton, which rose from 19 to 34.

Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis said: "Sales resumed a strong upward trend in the first six months of 2004, following a modest decline last year. The top end of the housing market has strengthened, and the incidence of properties valued above the ?1 million threshold continues to spread."

Expensive riverside penthouses in Battersea and large family houses in Putney and on Clapham and Wandsworth commons have pushed up million-plus sales in Wandsworth from 35 to 105.

There has been a 190 per cent increase in millionplus sales in Islington. A third of Britain's millionplus sales were in two London boroughs: Kensington & Chelsea (391) and Westminster (243).