The £1m homes come bouncing back

A total of 7,185 properties changed hands for a seven-figure sum during the year, 54 per cent more than in 2009 and the biggest annual increase since 2006, according to Lloyds TSB. But despite the increase, sales of homes for £1m or more are still 13 per cent below the level they reached in 2007, before the financial crisis struck.

The group estimates that there are now around 184,000 homes in Great Britain that are worth at least £1m.

The resurgence in sales of £1million-plus homes has significantly outstripped the rise in transactions for properties of all values, which edged ahead by just 6 per cent during the whole of 2010, while there was a 1 per cent fall in the number of homes worth £250,000 or less that changed hands.