Revealed: How much Fife’s top-rated houses will cost you

Estate agent Savills has carried out research into how much the top one per cent most expensive houses cost in every local authority.

It shows that buyers wanting to splash the cash on that one special house in 100 in Fife will have to pay at least £521,000.

The average house price in the area was £159,000 in 2017-18, the year over which the analysis was conducted.

But the cost of entering the one per cent property elite in Fife is cheaper than across Scotland as a whole, where the average minimum required is £636,000.

You would need more money in Edinburgh to join the exclusive group than anywhere else in the region – the top 1% most expensive houses there start at £1.04 million. You could buy four of the equivalent in Na h-Eileanan Siar for the same money , where they start at £250,000.

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Nationally, the most expensive place to enter the 1% market is London’s Kensington and Chelsea, at £14 million – the average property there costs £2.19 million.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: “As you would expect, there is a clear link between high incomes and high house prices, with the wealthiest households clustered in the most exclusive locations.

“But these markets are also driven by substantial levels of private wealth, whereas even in the top 10% of the market mortgage costs and availability remain the primary drivers.”

The figures show a significant north-south split in the cost of the most expensive properties.

But a recent report by property website Zoopla found that this may be slowly changing, as buyers look for value for money rather than to splurge on premium property.

The report showed that 36% of homes across the South East, East Anglia and the south-west regions of England are in markets where prices are falling annually.

Richard Donnell, research and insight director at Zoopla, said: “The trends in London and southern England are all part and parcel of the unfolding housing cycle.

“There remains plenty of demand for housing in southern England but there are fewer buyers, who are more cautious and seeking out value for money.

“For homeowners entering the market, the key to securing a sale is to be realistic on pricing based on the profile of demand for homes in the local market.”

Savills’ research also showed that, in 2017-18, one in every 570 property sales in Fife cost more than £1 million.