Number of Scottish property millionaires rises by more than 2,000

Last year saw more than 2,000 Scottish households became “property millionaires” on the back of rising house prices.

According to a new report produced by online estate agents Zoopla, the number of homes with a seven-digit price tag north of the border increased by 2,264, or by one-quarter, over the course of 2017.

Although actual sales of properties worth £1 million in Scotland fell slightly in 2017 from 158 in 2016 to 149 last year, rising prices mean that of the UK’s now 768,553 property millionaires, 11,101 are in Scotland.

Zoopla found Edinburgh has Scotland’s highest concentration of top-end homes with 4,759 £1m properties, accounting for two per cent of the city’s total housing stock.

This is in line with the proportion £1m-plus homes account for of the UK’s housing stock, which last year stood at 2.7% following a 23% surge in homes hitting the £1m mark since August 2016.

Faisal Choudhry, director of Scottish research and residential research at estate agents Savills, said: “The number of £1m sales during the past two years has been stable. The market has recovered from 2015, when the Scottish Government’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) was introduced, which increased the amount of tax paid at the higher levels.

“In fact, last year saw the highest number of £1m sales since 2008 and the start of the economic downturn, outside of a brief period in 2015 when people were rushing to sell to avoid LBTT.

“The market has basically stabilised again, as we thought it would.”

He added: “Scotland’s property market offers excellent value for money, compared to some areas of the south of England.

“There are also a very high quality of life, good schools, and excellent transport links associated with many of the hotspots such as Edinburgh.”

Guildford, in leafy Surrey, was the town with the UK’s most £1m-plus properties (5,889), followed by the university hubs of Cambridge (5,530) and Reading (5,421).

It will come as no surprise that, at regional level, London takes the crown for having the most £1m properties in Britain.

The capital reigns supreme with 430,720 property millionaires, which equates to 12.8 per cent of London’s total housing.

South east England is ranked second in Zoopla’s regional table, with 180,397 homes worth £1m or more, while the East of England is placed third with 69,840 property millionaires. Wales, however, comes last with just 2,223 £1m properties – nearly 9,000 fewer than seventh placed Scotland.

The figures have been released alongside the launch of a new tool from Zoopla, which allows people to see when their own home might reach the £1m mark, based on 20 years’ worth of property price data.