St Albans tops list of million pound house sales

St Albans had the highest number of million pound-plus property sales in the East of England during the first half of this year.

According to the Lloyds Bank Million Pound Property Report, 69 of the Local Authority District’s (LAD) homes – 6.38 per cent – were sold in that price bracket between January and June 2016.

Welwyn Hatfield was 7th on the list of 47 LADs, with 36 £1 million-plus sales – 4.8 per cent – while Stevenage was among the 11 distracts that didn’t record any seven-figure sales.

These figures helped fuel a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in £1 million-plus sales throughout the East of England, up from 422 to 549.

Nationally, there was a 12 per cent rise, with Virginia Water in Surrey crowned Britain’s only ‘million pound town’, where the average price of all sales was in seven figures.

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of million pound homes sold nationally – 91 per cent – were in London, the South East and the East of England.

Locations in central London remained the most expensive, with 8 per cent of all million pound sales taking place in Kensington and Chelsea, and another 8 per cent in Westminster.

Here in Herts, there’s cause for some celebration for those already on the property ladder – unless a local move is in the offing – less so for those looking to find an affordable first home in this increasingly pricey slice of suburbia.