The UK is home to more than 220,000 property millionaires, according to research published today by Zoopla.co.uk.
The home buying information website’s Property Rich List 2011 showed that although the number of people living in houses worth £1 million or more had fallen slightly since last year, Britain has nearly 6,000 streets where the average price of a home is £1 million or more.
London topped the poll of “million pound streets” by a considerable margin with 2,290 of the 5,922 listed. Guildford, a popular commuter town, was some way behind in second place with 89, while footballers’ paradise Cobham came in third with 78. Both Guildford and Cobham are in Surrey.
The country’s most expensive properties were shown to be in Kensington, where the average house now costs some £1,737,862. A property in nearby Chelsea will set you back an average of £1.32 million, while neighbourhoods like Knightsbridge, Notting Hill and West Brompton all boast an average property price of over £1 million.
The average UK homeowner could barely afford a 175 square foot bedsit in Kensington.
Nine out of ten of the most expensive areas were in the capital, the only exception being seventh-placed ¬Virginia Water in Surrey where ¬average house prices are £936,653.
Kensington Palace Gardens, known as Billionaires Row, was named the country’s most expensive street with an average property price of an astounding £19.2 million. The gated street is home to Saudi and Brunei royalty, Russian oligarchs and Britain’s richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, who owns three properties there.
Nicholas Leeming, a spokesperson for Zoopla.co.uk, said: “Despite the recent property market uncertainty, Brits remain obsessed with the value of their home as well as those of their neighbours, friends and family. This year’s Property Rich List shows an ever-widening North-South divide and whilst house prices in some of the most expensive areas of the country have fallen a little over the past 12 months, they have held up far better than in many of the less expensive areas.”