According to data recorded by HM Land Registry, the total value of second hand housing stock sold in Britain over the last 10 years adds up to just over £2 trillion, 14 per cent higher than in the noughties and an average of £551 million for each and every day of the decade.

Meanwhile a breakdown of the top 20 hotspots by electoral ward reveals a tale of two capital cities – London and Edinburgh.

With £446 billion of the overall tally, up 22 per cent on the previous decade, London accounts for 17 of the top 20 wards. Westminster’s Knightsbridge and Belgravia ward tops the list at £4.94 billion, followed by Brompton & Hans Town in Kensington and Chelsea at £4.22 billion.

The decade’s only top 20 spots beyond London go to Edinburgh where transactions in the City Centre ward were worth £2.43 billion, followed by the high-value suburbs of Morningside, £2.23 billion, and Inverleith, £2.17 billion.

In fact, as the table below shows, Scotland as a whole has seen the highest increase when compared with the preceding10 years, rising from £95 billion to £121 billion, up 27 per cent. By contrast, the North East is alone in registering a fall (-11 per cent), with a £41 billion total over 10 times lower than that of London.

Looking at the figures on an annual basis, London’s share of total value peaked at 26 per cent in 2013 and has since fallen to 18 per cent, following a slowdown for its highest value property. 

A look at how markets across the country fared last year shows a greater spread in where the top spots are located.

Knightsbridge and Belgravia again comes in first with Edinburgh City Centre now second, but Oxshott and Stoke D’Abernon in Elmbridge and Canford Cliffs in Poole also make the list of top performers.

The standout year of the decade was 2017 with sales worth £243 billion, equivalent to over £665 million a day. This is likely to have been fueled by strong levels of house price growth across the country between 2013 and 2016. Since then, Brexit uncertainty and affordability pressures in higher value markets have meant slower growth and lower transaction levels, leading to marginal annual falls in the total value of sales.

Further information

Contact Savills Research