Rising house prices create 'million pound towns' outside London for the first time despite falling sales

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Virginia Water, Cobham and Beaconsfield have become Britain’s first ‘million pound towns’ as house prices continue to push upwards, research shows.

The three towns, where average property prices are more than £1million, have been named the most expensive in the country in Lloyds’ Bank latest report.

While there are several London neighbourhoods where average prices are already at this level, it is the first time they hit £1million outside of the capital.

Affluent town: A property in Virginia Water in Surrey will cost £1.16million typically

A property in Virginia Water in Surrey, home to the Wentworth golf Club, will cost £1.16million typically, while buyers wanting to live in Cobham, also in Surrey, will need to pay £1.04million for a home, making it Britain's second most expensive town.

Meanwhile, a home in Beaconsfield, nestled on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, will now cost a buyer just over £1 million typically.

It comes despite the number of property sales worth at least £1million has fallen in the first half of 2015, according to Barclays.

Across Britain, sales were down by 11 per cent compared to the same period in 2014 - from 6,303 to 5,599 – which is in stark contrast to the 46 per cent increase seen in the first half of 2014.

However, since the first half of 2005 million pound home sales have grown over three and a half fold from 1,540 – a rise of 264 per cent.

Britain's second most expensive town: Cobham, in Surrey, where homes cost on average £1.04million

In London, sales of million pound homes fell by 15 per cent from 4,357 to 3,703 in the same period - the largest decline in the capital since 2009.

Sales of London homes priced between £5million and £10million were also down 15 per cent, while sales in the price range £2million to £5million were down by more than a quarter, or 26 per cent.

Nevertheless, two-thirds of all million pound property sales in the first half of this year were in London, with the largest national shares in Kensington & Chelsea (10 per cent) and Westminster (9 per cent).

Sarah Deaves, Private Banking Director at Lloyds Bank, said the fall may be caused by the impact recent reforms, which have made stamp duty more expensive for buyers of properties costing more than £937,500.

‘The number of homes sold for over £1million has fallen sharply over the past year, with a pronounced slowdown in the prime and Central London market. This may be the effect of the new Stamp Duty rates introduced last December and uncertainty generated by the election in May,’ she said.

London-focused estate agent Foxtons also blamed higher stamp duty costs and rising house prices for a sales slowdown in the capital’s luxury housing market, warning it might take time for it to recover.

This week, the upmarket estate agent chain posted a 3.7 per cent fall in property sales commissions to £52.1million in the nine months to the end of September.

A home in Beaconsfield nestled on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, will now cost a buyer just over £1million typically

However, Barclays said the regional picture was more mixed.

In Scotland the sale of million pound homes has more than doubled from 43 in the first half of 2014 to 111 properties a year later, an increase of 158 per cent.

The only other regions to have seen an increase in sales were Yorkshire and the Humber the East of England, with sales up 10 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.

In Wales transactions rose by 29 per cent, albeit from a low base. Barclays said.