The mortgage crisis, which upended plans to move house using cheap credit, has also been a factor in the million-pound property slump in the last year.
Across Britain, property transactions were down 20pc in 2023 compared with the year before, according to HMRC.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: “The race for space and dash to the countryside from mid-2020 drove a sharp increase in the number of £1m homes outside of London and other urban settings.
“However, increased mortgage costs and a rebalancing of demand back to city living have meant about 30pc of those whose homes crossed the £1m threshold, have, for the time being at least, become aspiring million-pound homeowners once again.”
The reversal coincides with workers returning to the office. For the first time since the pandemic, more people are working in the office full time (43pc) than hybrid (39pc), with only 18pc fully remote, according to data from recruitment consultancy Hays.
Emma Fildes, a property adviser at buying agents Brick Weaver, said: “Buyers and sellers have realised the grass isn’t always greener out of town. Many believed that life would never be the same again post-pandemic. Offices would become surplus to requirement and we’d all be scheduling our Zooms to suit.
“Though office-based work has reduced, employers are clawing back days in the office. Faced with long journey times and Network Rail delays, this has led to many questioning their move.”
