There has been a 393% increase in the number of ‘property millionaires’ in the last decade, according to new research for Santander Mortgages.

There are currently 131,996 residential homes worth over £1 million in Britain, almost a five-fold increase on the 26,776 that existed in the year 2000.

While the credit crunch led to over 43,000 homes losing their millionaire status between 2008 and 2009, a 29% reduction, the market in million pound properties has recovered. Over the past year, the number of million-pound-plus properties has risen by around 29,000, returning the number of property millionaires close to its early 2008 peak when there were 147,000 of them.

Around 78% (103,168) of these million pound homes are in Greater London, with the capital’s SW post code claiming 29% of the nation’s millionaire properties. Indeed, postcodes in London and the home counties including towns such as Guildford, Kingston upon Thames and Hemel Hempstead occupy the top 10 places in Santander Mortgages’ Property Millionaire League Table. London’s SE postcode area has showed a 23-fold increase in its number of property millionaires in the past decade.

Edinburgh is the first non-South East area in the league, coming in at 11th place with 1,665 million-pound-plus dwellings. Warrington is in 20th place in the table, with 1,066 property millionaires, and Bournemouth is 22nd with 870.

Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.com, said: “It’s amazing how fast million-pound-plus property prices have recovered since the dark days of mid-2008 when the market experienced significant price reductions. Our research shows that the number of million pound homes for sale has risen considerably over the past year and the number of people looking to buy them has also jumped by 20% – so it’s no wonder that the prime property market is recovering so fast.”””