- The three areas have seen a spike in property sales with seven-figure price tags
Three areas in England officially became ‘million-pound’ property markets last year, according to upscale estate agent Knight Frank.
Every year the firm identifies the areas where house prices are on the ascent, and which have seen a jump in seven-figure sales compared to the year before.
To qualify, at least 20 per cent of home sales had to be above £1million in two or more quarters in the year to September 2024.
This cannot have happened in a single quarter over the previous 12 months.
Only three areas met the criteria for entry this time, thanks to higher mortgage rates which have led to flagging house prices.
That was compared to the 11 locations which entered the exclusive club the last time Knight Frank crunched the data, for the year to September 2023.
The estate agent said that in that year, some home buyers still had mortgage offers below 3 per cent which had been agreed before the September 2022 mini Budget. That was possible because mortgage offers typically last for six months.
On the up: The West Sussex town of Chichester is a newly-minted million-pound market
What are the new million-pound markets?
Cambridge (postcode CB3), Chichester in West Sussex (PO18) and Winchelsea in East Sussex (TN36) are the three new million-pound housing markets.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the provisional average house price in Cambridge was £515,000 in December 2024, up 4.4 per cent from December 2023.
Knight Frank said Chichester and Winchelsea were both boosted by their coastal location, as buyers’ appetite for homes close to large outdoor spaces had lingered since the pandemic.
‘The enduring appeal of waterfront living has significantly bolstered property values in areas like Chichester and Winchelsea,’ said Hamish Humfrey, head of national waterfront at Knight Frank.
‘Their relative proximity to London enhances their appeal, providing an accessible retreat from urban life without compromising convenience.
‘The limited availability of waterfront properties in these regions further intensifies demand, leading to notable increases in value.’
Both Chichester and Cambridge were named among the least affordable locations in the UK for first-time buyers in recent Nationwide figures.
Knight Frank also named the locations which saw the biggest jump in £1million-plus property sales, but didn’t pass the 20 per cent threshold test.
This excluded central London and there had to be at least 10 property sales over the £1million mark to qualify.
The place that saw the biggest annual spike in seven-figure property sales was the village of Hindhead in Surrey (postcode GU26), where the figure climbed from 15 per cent to 25 per cent of all transactions.
Located on the border with Hampshire, it is the highest village in the UK and the location of the Devil’s Punch Bowl beauty spot.
It was tailed in the rankings by Sevenoaks in Kent (postcode TN14), where sales of more than £1million went from 9 per cent to to 16 per cent of the total.
Hitchin in Hertfordshire (SG4) saw the total rise from 3 per cent to 10 per cent, and East Dulwich in south east London (SE22) witnessed an increase from 26 per cent to 32 per cent of the total.
Knight Frank said it expected more £1 million markets to be created over the next 12 months, as it has forecast UK house prices to rise by an average of 2.5 per cent this year.
