Flash sales: homes priced above £1million are selling fastest in Cambridge as demand soars for hi-tech city hotspot

The top five areas where homes priced above £1million are selling the fastest are all outside London, finds a new report.
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Kristy Gray20 June 2018

Properties priced above £1million are selling faster in Cambridge than anywhere else in the country as demand continues to soar for homes in the fast-growing tech city dubbed 'Silicon Fen'.

Million pound-plus properties in the university town are taking 45 days on average to secure a buyer, twice as fast as the national average, according to the Rightmove report.

The top five fastest selling £1million locations are all outside London.

Edinburgh and Harpenden are in joint second place taking 53 days each, followed by Bristol at 54 days.

The national average time to agree a sale to a buyer in this price bracket is 99 days.

“Hotspots like Cambridge have helped the East of England take over the mantle from London in recent years, with this region now selling million pound plus properties 12 days quicker than in the capital," says Rightmove’s housing market analyst Miles Shipside.

In Cambridge, less than nine per cent of the homes currently listed for sale are priced above £1million, while in Edinburgh £1million plus properties equate to just four per cent of the market. In London homes costing £1million or more account for 27 per cent of the market.

RELOCATION HOTSPOT: CAMBRIDGE

As well as being a world-famous university city, Cambridge is also home to an increasing number of job movers coming from London, the UK and across the globe.

Digital and pharmaceutical start-ups as well as research centres for corporate giants such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Toshiba and Spotify have all set up bases in the East Anglian city, .

"The number of job movers coming to Cambridge is set to still increase. In fact, only recently Samsung announced that it will set up a new research centre in Cambridge bringing with it new employees with deeper pockets," says Martin Walshe, head of new homes at Cheffins in Cambridge.

The 54-minute train journey to King’s Cross and a good choice of state and private schools also appeal to London commuters.

With a historically low housing supply and an influx of new residents, high demand is pushing up house prices, especially for homes within walking distance of the station.

SPEEDY SALES

In London, where the top end of the market has stalled, £1million plus homes are selling fastest in Hackney (63 days) and Golders Green (64 days).

Meanwhile, properties priced above £1million pounds in Brixton are selling 24 days faster than this time last year, with sales taking an average of 65 days.

Rightmove says the £1million market has sped up most in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire over the past year, with homes taking 66 days to secure a buyer, compared to 112 days in 2017.

Following stamp duty changes in 2014, which increased the amount of tax buyers pay for homes costing more than £937,000, the average time to sell a property tends to increase as the as the property price goes up.

The stamp duty payable on the purchase of a £1million home in England works out at £43,750.

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