Monday, June 22, 2015

Mapping Million Dollar Houses


Over the weekend I stumbled across a few maps concerned with the top end of the real estate market. In the UK there is the Million Pound map and the Two Million Pound map. While in the USA there is the Seattle Million Pound Houses map.

Both the UK maps show the locations of houses sold in England and Wales using data from Hamptons International and the Land Registry. The Million Pound map shows properties which sold for above £1m in 2013. The Two Million Pound map shows properties which sold for above £2 million since 1995.

Both maps show a high concentration of expensive properties in and around London. The highest concentration of expensive houses appears to be in west and south-west London. On both maps there is also a noticeable hole in the London commuter area. Heathrow Airport seems to sit right in the middle of that hole. This suggests that noise is one of the biggest deterrents to high property prices.


The Seattle Million Pound Houses map shows residences sold in the city for over $1 million in the last three years. On this map it is noticeable that the most expensive properties are not in the city center but in the surrounding suburbs.

It also appears to me that the south of Seattle has a very low concentration of expensive properties. I don't know Seattle well enough to be certain of the likely cause of this but I wonder if this is also caused by the proximity to noisy airports, with both the King County International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport effecting property prices in the area.

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