£1m-plus houses the most likely to gain in price

More expensive houses are the ones most likely to go up in value, with owners and agents unafraid to up their asking prices.

Research commissioned by Investec Specialist Private Bank using Primelocation data  reveals there were 21,877 residential properties on the market at between £1m and £15m during the third quarter of 2011.

Those asking for between £5m and £10m saw the biggest increase in prices. The average asking price in this band was £6.78m, 3.5% higher than Q3 of 2010 (£6.55m).
 
The price bracket with the second biggest increase in asking prices was £1m to £2m, where there was a 1.43% increase. 

In only the most expensive houses of all, those between £10m and £15m, was there an annual fall in asking prices – and at just 1.4% it was probably not enough to dent the fortunes of the sellers too much.
 
Jack Jones, of Investec Specialist Private Bank, which specialises in offering £1m-plus mortgages to those who earn over £300,000 a year and have an established balance sheet of over £3m, said: “One of the main reasons why the million-pound property market has seen an increase in prices is that many are bought by very wealthy overseas buyers.

“Some 78% of those valued between £5m and £10m are in London, and the capital is still a very popular place for the world’s wealthiest people to buy property and live.”
 
Andrew Smith, research director at PrimeLocation, said: “Given the sustained demand for exclusive premier residences, we continue to see the prime sector outperform the overall UK residential market. 

“With prime market stock continuing to rise and new year bonuses just around the corner, global interest in this sector and flexible finance options are likely to remain high.”