Houses in the Hadleigh area are among 13 that were bought for more than a million pounds in Babergh last year, research has shown.

Research by national estate agent, Keller Williams UK, has revealed which areas of the property market in England and Wales are currently the hottest spots for £1m plus property purchases.

Keller Williams UK analysed sold price records from the Land Registry over the last 12 months and found that a total of 12,251 homes have sold for £1m or more in that time; doing so with an average price tag of £1,333,286.

Babergh saw 13 homes sell for in excess of £1m between December 2019 and November 2020, according to the research, with Park House, Wenham Road, Washbrook, the most expensive at £2,200,000.

Linden Lodge, in Shelley, a detached dwelling with an IP7 post code went for £1,600,000, while The Old Hall, in Chelsworth, sold for £115k in September last year, Broome Hill, in nearby Polstead, was bought for £1,250K in January 2020, which is the average for £1m plus homes in the east of England, at £1,251.052.

Hadleigh and its surrounding villages have long been home to a number of famous people including artists, television stars, a fashion designer and the occasional gangster enjoying the relative anonymity of the area.

Maggie Hamlin, Cedric Morris, the Kray twins, to name a few, while Ruth Rendall set one of her books in and around Polstead. Many others live in secluded sanctuary.

London remains the most prominent £1m plus property market accounting for a huge 58% of all transactions above the £1m threshold in the last 12 months.

At 23% the South East also accounted for more £1m+ property sales over the last year than all the other regions combined.

Wales and the North East were home to just 0.2% of homes to sell for £1m or more in the last year; the lowest of all regions in England and Wales.

Interestingly, while the Yorkshire and Humber region accounted for just 1% of all transactions above £1m, it was home to the highest average sold price at £1.544m. At £1.5m, the North West also saw one of the highest average sold prices for homes selling at £1m or more.

16 of the top 20 local authorities to have seen the most £1m+ property transactions in the last 12 months are located in the capital.

Westminster has seen the highest level of homes sold for £1m or more of all local authorities in England and Wales. 876 £1m+ transactions completed in the borough over the last year, with Kensington and Chelsea not far behind with 753 transactions. Wandsworth (708), Hammersmith and Fulham (530) and Camden (502) also saw some of the largest numbers of homes sold at £1m or more.

Elmbridge has seen the 9th most £1m+ homes sold in the last 12 months and the highest total outside of London with 327 transactions.

Windsor and Maidenhead (145), Waverley (143) and St Albans (137) also make the top 20, as do the London Boroughs of Richmond, Lambeth, Barnet, Islington, Southwark, Haringey, Ealing, Merton, Brent and Bromley.

CEO of Keller Williams UK, Ben Taylor, commented: "The higher tiers of the housing market have arguably suffered most due to Covid uncertainty and activity hasn't been boosted to the same extent as a result of the current stamp duty holiday.

"That said, it's reassuring to see that a robust number of transactions have still taken place despite the turbulence of the last year and this is a foundation that will no doubt be built on in 2021.

Of course, London leads the way in terms of the sheer volume of sales but there has been activity across all regions of England and Wales and, in fact, some regions have seen these transactions complete for a similar or even higher average sold price than the capital itself."

Data sourced from the Land Registry Price Paid house price records (Dec 2019 to Nov 2020)

There are currently two million pound plus houses for sale in the IP9 area, both in Capel St Mary.