UK house prices: More than £63bn properties have been bought using cash instead of mortgages since 2011
More than £63bn has been spent on £1m-plus homes over the last five years by buyers using hard cash as opposed to mortgages, new figures show.
High net worth adviser Bower Private Clients said 7,200 homes worth more than £1m are being bought on average each year alone without the help of a mortgage.
This is equal to a third of all property purchases at that price, with homebuyers splashing out total of £192.7bn since 2011 on more than 110,000 £1m-plus properties.
Nearly two-thirds of these deals took place in London (22,852) with the average spent per property topping £1.9m. The south east, east and south west of England also saw high numbers of millionaire cash buyers:
| Region | No. £1m-plus cash purchases since 2011 | Average price paid |
| London | 22,852 | £1.9m |
| South East | 7,864 | £1.53m |
| East of England | 2,377 | £1.42m |
| South West | 1,211 | £1.48m |
| North West | 641 | £1.65m |
| West Midlands | 496 | £1.4m |
| Yorkshire & North Humberside | 239 | £1.36m |
| East Midlands | 218 | £1.34m |
| North East | 79 | £1.39m |
| Wales | 52 | £1.26m |
The figures, which are based on Land Registry data, do not break out how many cash purchases were made by UK-based or overseas buyers.
Andrea Rozario, chief corporate officer at Bower Private Clients said: “Property millionaire cash buyers are a growing force in the housing market highlighting the wealth which is concentrated in homes.
Bower has recently launched an equity release service aimed at older homeowners with wealth tied up in their property. Rozario said: “The continuing squeeze on pension and investment income means some property millionaires may find themselves in a position whereby they have the desirable home which they love but not the level of income or liquid assets they had hoped for. Consideration of how best to maximise what will likely be their biggest asset should include solutions such as a lifetime mortgage.”