This was 118% up on the first six months of 2009 compared to a 27% increase in the total number of house sales for the same period.
Nevertheless, million-pound property sales for H1 2010 were down 18% on the first half of 2007. Between the first six months of 2007 and 2009, this sector of the property market saw sales fall 63%.
London and the South East grabbed 89% of all million-pound sales in Britain during H1 2010, slightly up on the 86% recorded in the first half of 2007. London rebounded with million-pound property sales up 134% in the past year.
Halifax estimated that there are 170,000 properties in Britain worth at least £1m and, while they make up a very small proportion of the total housing market in Britain, the share of all sales has risen from 0.5% in H1 2009 to 0.9% in H1 2010.
London had the highest proportion of million pound sales at 4.5%.
Martin Ellis, housing economist for Halifax, said: “The sizeable rise in the number of million-pound properties sold over the past year has been driven by a small number of London neighbourhoods that continue to account for the vast majority of £1m sales.
“The increase reflects both strong demand from wealthy foreign buyers looking to benefit from the weakness in sterling and the relatively strong performance of the housing market in London and the South East over the past year.”
