The Surrey towns where 1 in 5 homes now costs over £1 million

The number of million-pound homes sold in Surrey’s sought-after commuter towns has jumped as buyers seek out ‘the very best homes in the county’.

Against an unsettled economic backdrop, sales of £1m-plus homes across 10 Surrey commuter towns have soared by 41% since 2019.

Jason Corbett at Rowallan Buying Agents analysed Land Registry figures for Guildford, Cobham, Dorking, Reigate, Weybridge, Haslemere, Farnham, Epsom, Woking and Godalming.

The number crunching shows that 630 homes changed hands for £1m or more across the 10 Surrey towns between 1 January and 30 September last year. That’s up from the 446 £1m-plus homes sold during the same period in 2019.

Yet the total number of housing transactions across all price brackets in the 10 towns has dropped by more than 20% since before the pandemic.

The analysis also reveals that at least one in five homes were snapped up for £1m-plus in Cobham, Reigate, Weybridge and Farnham between January and September last year.

Just two of these towns could claim this in the same nine months in 2019: Cobham and Weybridge.

‘Our analysis demonstrates how Surrey’s prime market remained comparatively robust against a challenging backdrop which hit the south east with a drop in overall agreed sales and sentiment,’ explains Corbett.

‘The increase of 41% in transactions of homes for £1m or more can be partly attributed to a rise in house prices because more properties now fall into this price bracket, however, Rightmove data suggests prices have only risen around 14% in Surrey since 2020.

‘Our research highlights the ongoing demand among buyers for the very best homes in the county, despite mortgage rates and inflation remaining unsettled.’

Chunky price tags aside, it’s not hard to see why buyers are drawn to Surrey. Corbett highlights the affluent county’s proximity to London, range of schools, transport network - including two of the UK’s largest airports - and abundance of green space.

And there are, of course, the sprawling homes. If you have the budget and a penchant for modern houses, you'll find it hard to resist this six-bedroom family home in Cobham's Fairmile Estate. The home’s unique selling point? ‘The sunken seating area to the rear, with gas fire pit and dining area and a cantilevered glazed roof that offers an all-year-round dining and entertaining space’, says Knight Frank, which is selling the property for £4,500,000.

Or for something more historic, how about the wing of this Tudor-style property in exclusive St George's Hill, Weybridge? It was occupied by the German Embassy before World War II with Joachim von Ribbentrop, foreign minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945, rumoured to have been a frequent guest at the house, according to the selling agent, Savills. The five-bedroom home is on sale for £3,499,950.

So what could lie ahead for Surrey’s high-end housing market? Corbett is upbeat: ‘We see no reason not to forecast a continuation of robust levels of demand remaining throughout this year at this upper end of the market and would expect to see a similar picture in south west London, prime Hampshire, Sussex and Berkshire.’

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