The number of homes on the market at £1 million or more has surged over the past several years, and the areas driving that growth aren’t limited to the usual London postcodes. Here’s where the UK’s million-pound property market is concentrated right now.
The Scale of the Shift
According to research from Rightmove, just over 5% of homes currently for sale across Britain are priced at £1 million or more, up from just under 3% in 2019. The number of million-pound listings has effectively doubled over that period, with a 103% increase recorded between January and April 2025 compared with the same months in 2019.
London Still Leads on Concentration
Despite the growth seen elsewhere, London remains the area with the single biggest concentration of million-pound homes, with Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Wandsworth topping the list of boroughs with the highest proportion of seven-figure listings.
The Commuter Belt Has Caught Up Significantly
Beyond central London, a cluster of commuter-belt locations now have a strikingly high proportion of million-pound homes for sale. In areas including St Albans, Windsor and Maidenhead, Three Rivers, and Waverley, roughly one in every five homes currently on the market carries a seven-figure price tag. Mole Valley stands out as a particular outlier, with 22% of its listings now priced at £1 million or above, one of the highest proportions recorded anywhere outside prime central London.
Cornwall Leads the Fastest-Growing Areas
While London and the commuter belt have the highest concentrations, the fastest growth in million-pound listings has actually happened elsewhere. Cornwall recorded the single biggest increase of any area analysed, with a 246% rise in million-pound properties for sale compared with before the pandemic. Uttlesford in the East of England followed closely at 233%, with Somerset at 226%, North Yorkshire at 210%, and Wealden in the South East at 201%.
A further group of areas – Wiltshire, Test Valley, Chelmsford, and Tunbridge Wells – all recorded increases of between 183% and 193% over the same period, rounding out a clear pattern of growth concentrated in the South West, South East, and East of England, alongside a notable showing from North Yorkshire.
Why the Pandemic Reshaped This Market
Much of this shift traces back to the “race for space” that reshaped buyer priorities during the pandemic, as remote and hybrid working made larger homes, gardens, and coastal or countryside locations considerably more attractive to buyers who previously prioritised proximity to a London office above almost everything else. Areas like Cornwall, with strong existing appeal as a lifestyle destination, saw that shift in buyer priorities translate directly into a surge of demand at the very top of the local market.
What’s Driving Continued Growth
Commenting on the findings, Rightmove property expert Colleen Babcock noted that the surge extends well beyond the capital, pointing to places like Cornwall, Uttlesford, and Somerset as areas seeing significant jumps in high-value property numbers, alongside London. That framing captures the broader story here: strong demand for the UK’s most desirable locations has pushed a growing share of the market into the million-pound bracket nationally, not just within the traditional prime London postcodes.
What This Means for Buyers and Sellers
For sellers in these areas, the growth in million-pound listings reflects genuine, sustained demand for premium property in well-located, lifestyle-driven areas – a trend that shows little sign of reversing given how firmly established remote and hybrid working has become. For buyers, it’s a reminder that the seven-figure threshold no longer signals exclusively central London or the most obvious commuter towns; increasingly, it applies to a much wider set of desirable UK locations, from Cornish coastal towns to North Yorkshire market towns.
The Bottom Line
The UK’s million-pound property market has genuinely broadened over the past several years, extending well beyond its traditional London stronghold into commuter-belt towns and lifestyle-driven regional locations. London still leads on sheer concentration, but the fastest growth is happening elsewhere – a trend worth watching for anyone tracking premium property demand across the country.