Million pound home sales in Merton hits four year high

Sales of homes worth £1 million or more have reached their highest level in London since the peak of the housing market in 2007, according to a new report out.

In a table listing which local authorities in Britain have sold the most million plus properties, Merton came tenth with a total of 55 in the first half of 2011.

Kensington and Chelsea topped the league with 461 and Wandsworth was fifth with 166.

The report compiled by Lloyds TSB found there were 3,375 sales of £1m-plus properties in the first six months of this year, an increase of ten per cent on the same period in 2010 and the highest number since the first half of 2007, when there were 3,680 sales.

Edward Foley, local property expert and owner of Winkworth Estate Agents in Wimbledon Village, said he had experienced his highest level of sales above £1m this year since 2007 at the height of the market.

However, he said prices had also risen and within Wimbledon Village there was little chance of buying a house under a million pounds.

"Even though a million pounds is such a lot of money, it sadly doesn't buy you that much in Wimbledon Village anymore," he said.

Last week Winkworth handed over the keys to two houses, one in Alwyne Road, Wimbledon at £1.2 million asking price and another in Dora Road, Wimbledon for £1.3 million.

Lloyds TSB said that while the top end of the market was strengthening, overall transactions had declined by nine per cent in the first half of this year.

And, despite the rise in sales of high-end properties, they only account for a tiny proportion – just 1.1 per cent – of total transactions. Even in London, they only account for 5.7 per cent of all sales.

Almost two-thirds of the £1m-plus sales were in London, with 2,163 sales in the first half of the year compared with 1,926 in the same period in 2010.

In the North-East there were just 13 sales of £1m-plus homes. However, this compared with only three in the first six months of 2010.

Suren Thiru, Lloyds TSB housing economist, said: "Strong demand from wealthy cash rich buyers both in the UK and from overseas, as well as limited supply of such properties, has helped to boost the level of activity at the very top end of the housing market."

There are now as estimated 200,000 homes in Britain worth at least one million pounds.

To read the full report click on the link: http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/pdfs/LTSB/2011/22_10_11_Lloyds_TSB_2011H1_Review_Million_Pound_SalesFINAL.pdf