Million pound houses selling fast in St Albans and Harpenden

Million pound-plus houses are being snapped up more quickly in Hertfordshire than almost anywhere else in the country.

According to new data from Rightmove, only London and Cambridge are seeing properties in this price bracket find a buyer faster than parts of Herts, with homes in Berkhamsted, Harpenden and St Albans typically going under offer in 43, 45 and 47 days respectively.

Hackney has the fastest turnaround of all, with just 23 days on average being taken to find a buyer, compared to 40 days in Cambridge - the fastest outside the capital. Epsom in Surrey is the only non-East of England area in the top five outside London, with a 46-day average.

According to data recorded by Rightmove during July and August, £1million-plus houses are being snapped up 18 days faster on average than at this time last year, outperforming the nine-day drop seen market-wide.

Sales agreed in this price bracket doubled in August year-on-year (an increase of 105 per cent) compared to a 61 per cent increase for all houses.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said £1million-plus buyers have “led the surge in agreed sales seen since the market reopened”.

He added: “This has fed demand for good quality family homes along London’s established wealth corridors and, more noticeably, in towns such as Guildford, Winchester and St Albans, villages within striking distance of a main line station and lifestyle relocation markets such as Devon, Suffolk and north Yorkshire.”

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, noted that demand in higher price brackets “is more responsive to external events and we saw the same after the global financial crisis.

“Buyers who are less constrained by the mortgage market and negative sentiment around unemployment and the economy have been able to act on their desire for more space.”