Britain’s Property Rich List has been announced, revealing a massive leap in the number of million pound properties in the UK. There are now 323,684 homes worth over a million pounds – up 32% from this time last year. At the very top end, a typical home on the most expensive street in the UK will now set you back more than £36 million.
So why is the million pound market booming, and where are these multi-million-pound neighbourhoods?
Why?
The Rich List, put together by Zoopla, found there were 8,230 streets with an average property price of over £1 million. Perhaps unsurprisingly 34% of these streets are in London – including every street in the top 20 most valuable in the country.
The surge in the number of million-pound properties isn’t because of some sort of building recovery, it’s purely on the grounds of a booming market for super-prime property. Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.co.uk said: “Property values in these super-prime areas are astronomically high and have risen substantially over the past year.”
The world’s billionaires still want their London pad, so demand in prime neighbourhoods for top end properties is as high as ever. Now that sterling has fallen so far against so many currencies, it means that international buyers are also getting more for their money, which makes them even keener to buy.
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Most expensive streets
The exceptionally rich tend to flock to those streets lined with enormous mansions in the centre of the most desirable neighbourhoods. The most expensive in the UK is still Kensington Palace Gardens, otherwise known as Billionaires Row. Here Roman Abramovich, the Sultan of Brunei and Lakshmi Mittal rub shoulders – a stone’s throw from Kensington Palace. The average property on this road costs an incredible £36,066,148 – more than 156 times the value of the average UK home.
The road offers exclusivity and privacy, and even has a private gate and a security guard to stop non-residents from driving down the road.
The Boltons in SW10, formerly home to Madonna, takes second place on this year’s list with an average house price of £23,375,758, followed closely by Grosvenor Crescent in SW1 where a home will set you back £19,768,963 on average.
Hall says: Only the super-wealthy can entertain the notion of living on the most expensive streets and they are paying as much for the address and location as they are for the size and quality of the property.”
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Neighbourhoods
The most expensive neighbourhood was named as Kensington (W8), where the average property is worth £2,326,439. The postcode is home to Dustin Hoffman, Rita Ora and The Beckhams. In the area, floorspace the size of a standard doormat is currently valued at an eye-watering £3,586. Hall points out: “You can find magnificent mansions in other parts of the country for a similar price to even just average properties in areas like Kensington.”
Knightsbridge takes second place, where the average house price is now £2,034,706. The neighbourhood overtook Chelsea during the year.
Outside London, Virginia Water in Surrey, home to Bruce Forsyth and Eddie Jordan, is the most expensive area in Britain, with an average property value of £1,034,368. Cobham in Surrey – the home of Chelsea Football Club’s training ground – takes second place outside the capital with an average property price of £842,806.
But what do you think? Can these areas really be worth so much? Or is it a sign of just how strange and distorted the UK property market has become? Let us know in the comments.
Britain’s Top 10 Most Expensive Neighbourhoods (and the average property price)
1 W8 (Kensington) £2,326,439
2 SW7 (Knightsbridge) £2,034,706
3 SW3 (Chelsea) £1,822,560
4 SW10 (West Brompton) £1,497,783
5 W11 (Notting Hill) £1,422,262
6 SW1 (Westminster) £1,297,531
7 W1 (West End) £1,294,766
8 SW13 (Barnes) £1,139,476
9 NW3 (Hampstead) £1,125,499
10 SW5 (Earl’s Court) £1,098,182
Britain’s Top 10 Most Expensive Streets (and the average property price)
1 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 £36,066,148
2 The Boltons, London SW10 £23,375,758
3 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1X £19,768,963
4 Courtenay Avenue, London N6 £10,750,336
5 Compton Avenue, London N6 £10,006,014
6 Frognal Way, London NW3 £9,513,716
7 Park Place Villas, London W2 £8,980,477
8 Montrose Place, London SW1X £8,980,468
9 Cottesmore Gardens, London W8 £8,813,429
10 Palace Green, London W8 £8,644,535
Britain’s Top 10 Most Expensive Towns (and the average property price)
1 Virginia Water, Surrey £1,034,368
2 Cobham, Surrey £842,806
3 Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire £806,459
4 Keston, London £785,399
5 Esher, Surrey £774,265
6 Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire £754,779
7 Richmond, Surrey £718,229
8 Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire £717,319
9 Radlett, Hertfordshire £691,211
10 Welwyn, Hertfordshire £687,558
Highest Number of £1m Streets by Area
1 London (2789)
2 Richmond (184)
3 Guildford (118)
4 Mitcham (100)
5 Leatherhead (96)
6 Beaconsfield (89)
7 Cobham (89)
8 Kingston-upon-Thames (89)
9 Harpenden (84)
10 Esher (83)