Million pound property sales across Britain in the first half of 2005 were 26% lower than in the first six months of 2004, according to new Halifax research. This decline followed a 36% rise between 2003 and 2004.

The brakes are firmly on for this market sector: 1,508 million-pound properties were sold in Britain during the first six months of 2005 compared to 2,033 properties in the first six months of 2004.

Scotland bucked the national trend with 40 million pound property sales north of the border in the first half of 2005 compared with 18 in the first six months of 2004. There were also small increases in North East (+1), West Midlands (+2) and East Midlands (+1).

The biggest falls were in Greater London (-366) and the South East (-153), which combined accounted for 99% of the overall decline in sales nationally (519 out of 525). There were also modest declines in the South West (-5), North West (-4), East (-14), Wales (-1) and Yorkshire & the Humber (-8).

There were sales of at least one £1m property in 176 local authority districts in the first half of 2005. Eight local authority districts saw their first million pound property sales in the first half of 2005: Tameside, Hastings, Castlepoint, Alnwick, Carlisle, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Shrewsbury & Atcham and Dumfries.

Outside London and the South East, the local authority areas of Poole in the South West and Midlothian in Scotland had the highest number of sales over £1 million in the first half of 2005 (both with 20).

Million pound properties accounted for only 0.4% of all sales nationally in the first half of 2005. Even in London, £1 million sales represented only 2% of total property sales.

On the basis that sales are representative of the entire housing stock, there are now approximately 53,400 properties in Britain valued at least £1 million. This compares with only 3,400 in 1995. In London, it is estimated that 33,000 properties are now valued above £1 million compared with just 2,600 in 1995.