MORE than £70million worth of property is on the market in Sandbanks as its Millionaires Row continues to defy hard economic times.

A flat on the peninsular recently sold for £3.8m – the highest amount ever paid for an apartment in the UK outside of London.

The majority of houses are bought with cash and very few buyers bother with a survey.

Adrian Dunford, from estate agency Tailor Made, which sold the £3.8m apartment, said: "Despite the economic problems elsewhere in the past few years we have not really seen any downturn in the housing market on Sandbanks.

"We are breaking records even at a time of downturn which says it all.

"In July we had the most viewings we have ever had in 12 years of business.

"The reason for the steady market is simple - there is nowhere else quite like Sandbanks.”

There are 1,100 houses and flats on Sandbanks, but only 30 with direct waterfront access, and they are the ones that go for the most.

"There are a lot of wealthy individuals who want to live here and people will happily pay £5m for a plot of land, knock down the existing house and spend another £3m building a new one,” said Mr Dunford.

Keith Sansom, from Savills, said: "Buyers pay a huge premium for houses by the water and they sell for anything from £2m to £8m.

"No house on the inside has ever sold for more than £1.5m.

"There are maybe a third of the waterfront houses up for sale and when you add up the combined value, it's astonishing.

"There is probably over £40m of property on the market just on the peninsula.

"In fact, buyers are now getting much more for their money in Sandbanks than ever before.

"London prices have continued to rise while prices in Sandbanks have remained the same for the last four years.

"Around 50 per cent of those that buy multi-million pound properties on Sandbanks are buying them as their second or third homes.”