Scotland sees million-pound property sales slump

Sales of homes for £1 million-plus have surged since lockdown apart from Scotland where numbers of transactions fell year-on-year, new analysis suggests.

Scotland suffered a drop in £1 million-plus homes sales

An average of 868 £1 million-plus sales have been agreed each week since the start of June, two-thirds (66%) higher than the weekly average of 522 over the same period in 2019, according to data from Savills and TwentyCi.

Despite the housing market effectively being shut down for part of the year, a total of 22,586 sales were agreed in the first three-quarters of 2020, or 16 per cent higher than in the same period in 2019, the report said.

However, north of the border it is a different story with sales of million pound-plus properties falling 14 per cent compared to the same period last year. Edinburgh has the most properties worth £1 million and over in Scotland.

Lucian Cook, Savills head of residential research, said the findings point to a rebalancing of the market between London and other areas.

He said: “Whereas sales in London rose by 4 per cent in the first nine months of the year, they are up 27 per cent across the rest of the UK, albeit London still accounts for over four in 10 sales with a £1 million-plus price tag.”

Mr Cook continued: “Lifestyle relocation has been a big theme in the market since lockdown began to ease, and this is very clearly reflected in the numbers.

“Relocation and staycation locations such as the Cotswolds, South Oxfordshire, Dorset, Cornwall and Wiltshire have been standout performers.”

Scotland was the only part of the UK to see a dip in million-pound sales, but Savills said the market there remains strong.

Here are the numbers of £1 million-plus sales agreed up to the end of September in 2020, according to the analysis, with the percentage increase compared with the same period in 2019:

– London, 9,403, 4%

– South East, 6,560, 28%

– East of England, 2,469, 24%

– South West, 2,022, 38%

– West Midlands, 560, 35%

– North West, 538, 12%

– Yorkshire and the Humber, 341, 44%

– East Midlands, 341, 27%

– Scotland, 152, minus 14%

– Wales, 106, 19%

– North East, 72, 14%

– Northern Ireland, 22, 5%

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