Description:

According to Santander, one  of the world's leading financial giants, 78% of homes in Britian worth over £1 million are in Greater London. Twickenham is one of the top three towns outside the capital to have such status.

The number of property millionaires nationally has risen by 29,000 in the last year and is close to its 2008 peak .  In the last ten years, there has been a five fold increase in property milllionaires despite the financial crisis and housing price crash.

Property analyst Nigel Lewis said, '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.'

On the flipside, while the number of property millionaires has soared, the number of first-time buyers has collapsed. Less than half the amount of young people bought a house last year compared to the year 2000. Indeed 80 per cent of people under the age of 30 have said that they could only afford to buy their homes because they were lent or given the deposit by their parents. In 2000, the average home cost £85,000 , today properties now cost an average £168,000.

The research shows that the number of 'property millionaires' was hit during the recession, dropping by more than 43,000 last year but has recovered rapidly in the last year. Research is based purely on the value of the property and  does not take into account the size of the associated mortgages. Therefore, owning a million pound property does not automatically make you a millionaire.