Cambridge is home to the fastest moving property market in the country when it comes to properties on sale for £1million or more, new findings reveal.
With buyers facing hefty asking prices, stamp duty charges and other taxes and fees, shifting a home for £1million or more can be tough, but in areas like Cambridge, Edinburgh and Bristol, sellers face less of an uphill struggle.
In Cambridge, it takes on average 45 days to secure a buyer for a home on sale for £1million or more, which is significantly less than the national average of 99 days.
Top 10 fastest places to flog a home on sale for £1million or more, according to Rightmve
Martin Walshe, head of new homes at Cheffins in Cambridge, said: ‘We’ve seen demand grow to unprecedented levels in Cambridge for a variety of reasons which has pushed up values and sped up sales across all price brackets, especially with the city’s historically low housing supply.’
After Cambridge, Edinburgh, along with Harpenden in Hertfordshire, are the second best places for sellers looking to offload a property for £1million or more.
Bristol and St Albans complete the top five, with high-end homes in these locations selling in around 54 days and 60 days respectively.
Taking a closer look at Bristol’s figures, the top end of the sector has slowed since last year. In 2017, £1million homes in Bristol typically took 36 days to sell, compared to 54 days this year.
Miles Shipside, a housing market analyst at Rightmove, said: ‘Hotspots like Cambridge have helped the east of England take over the mantle from London in recent years.’
He added: ‘The Scottish million-pound plus market has also picked up as the increased activity in the overall housing market in Scotland is having a positive knock-on effect on the higher end, especially in cities like Edinburgh.’
The top end of London’s property market, where properties can often command tens of millions of pounds, has been struggling in recent years, with sky-high prices and hefty additional fees making the market less appealing to prospective buyers.
With a possible interest rate rise on the horizon this year, uncertainty over personal finances, as well as the state of the economy and housing market in general, looms large in the minds of many prospective buyers.
Across London, Hackney, Golders Green and Brixton made it to Rightmove’s top ten property hotspots for homes on sale for £1million or more, taking over 60 days to sell.
Number one: In Cambridge, it takes on average 45 days to secure a buyer for a home on sale for £1million or more
Second place: In Edinburgh, homes on sale for £1million or more take 53 days to sell
The average time it takes an estate agent to strike a deal for a property usually increases the higher up the ladder or price bracket you go.
Homes worth £300,000 or less take an average of just under two months to find a buyer, while property millionaires can be waiting over three months, based on the properties that do actually sell, Rightmove said.
On a regional basis, homes of £1million or more take the longest to sell in Wales, at 146 days. In the North West of England, high-end homes typically take around 131 days to sell, compared to 124 in the North East.
In its last set of figures, the Office for National Statistics revealed that the average cost of a home in the UK is £224,000, marking a 4.2 per cent annual increase.
Still quick: In Bristol, homes on sale for £1m or more take around 54 days to sell