There were 6,143 million pound property sales in the country in the first half of 2014 which is equivalent to 33 transactions everyday over the period.
The 6,143 million pound property sales in the first half of the year represented a 46% increase compared to the same period in 2013 when sales totalled 4,198.
Indeed, million pound home sales have grown by 345% since the first half of 2009, when sales in this market segment were at their lowest point in the past decade.
However, while million pound home sales outperform the rest of the market, they are still a very small share of the overall market. The 46% increase in million pound home sales in the first half of the year significantly outpaced the 26% increase in the sale of properties below a million pounds over the period.
Despite this large increase, the sale of million pound properties accounts for just 1.3% of all national residential sales although this share has more than doubled since 2009. But even in London, million pound sales account for just 7.6% of all sales.
There were 1,360 homes sold for at least two million pounds in the first half of 2014, some 43% higher than over the first six months of 2013 when the number of sales totalled 949.
Homes selling for at least two million pounds accounted for 22% of all million pound plus home sales in the first half of 2014. This proportion had edged down marginally from 23% in the same period a year earlier. As a proportion of all sales, homes sold for over two million pounds account for just 0.22%.
Some 70% or 4,259 of all million pound home sales in Britain during the first half of 2014 were in London. The capital is followed by the South East with a share of 16% or 1,096 and the East of England at 6% or 109.
All regions have recorded an increase in sales in 2014 compared to the same period a year earlier. The largest percentage rises in million pound home sales were in the North East with a rise of 150%, the West Midlands with an increase of 100%, South West up 87% and the East Midlands up 80%.
In the two regions with the largest concentration of million pound sales, London and the South East, transactions rose by 47% and 41% respectively.
The research also shows that close to a quarter of all million pound homes sold in Britain during the first half of 2014 were in the prime property locations of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster at 13% and 10% respectively.
Cheshire East and the City of Edinburgh recorded the highest number of million pound sales outside southern England.
‘The number of homes sold for at least a £1 million is at a record high, with this sector of the housing market growing by almost a half in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2013,’ said Sarah Deaves, private banking director at Lloyds Bank.
‘Property values in prime locations have been boosted by growing demand from wealthy, and often cash rich, buyers from the UK and overseas, as well as limited supply of such properties,’ she explained.