St Albans saw more prime property purchases over the last year than almost anywhere outside London, new research has revealed.

Enness Global analysed £3m-plus property transactions across England between March 2020 and February 2021, and found that 886 such homes were sold at an average of almost £4m.

St Albans came in joint 15th place in the resulting countdown with five such transactions, with a median sold price of £3,830,000. This figure secured the city the same ranking on the list of the 15 highest average sold prices at £3m and above.

Elmbridge in Surrey is the nation's prime property hotspot outside the capital, with 31 £3m-plus homes sold in the last year.

Teignbridge in Devon was home to the highest sold price outside London at £6.2m.

Not surprisingly, the capital accounted for the vast majority of these high-end transactions (78 per cent), followed by the South East (15 per cent), South West (3 per cent) and East of England (2 per cent).

The North West (1 per cent) and West Midlands (0.2 per cent) also saw a handful of homes sell for £3m-plus.

Islay Robinson, CEO of Enness Global Mortgages, said: “With so much talk of the prime London market, you could be forgiven for forgetting that plenty of homes change hands for considerable sums outside of the capital.

"We’ve seen lockdown spur an uplift in buyer demand for bigger homes with more outdoor space and this is no different at the very top end, with high-end homebuyers also keen to upgrade the pandemic property potential.

"While the highest price of property means this high-end activity has been largely focussed within the south, the North West has no doubt cemented it’s spot as the prime property hotspot of the north.”