SALES of homes costing more than £1 million have surged since lockdown and Dorset has seen one of the largest increases in demand.

An average of 868 homes costing £1 million-plus have been sold each week around the country since the beginning of June, according to research carried out by Savills estate agents - 66 per cent higher than the weekly average over the same period in 2019.

In Dorset, there has been a 69 per cent increase in sales of £1 million-plus homes in the months January-September 2020, compared to the same period last year.

For the south west as a whole, the increase was 38 per cent.

There were 1,466 £1 million-plus homes sold between January and September 2019 in the south west compared with 2,022 in 2020 - an increase of 556 homes.

Yorkshire and The Humber also saw a large increase in sales of £1 million-plus homes with an increase of 44 per cent in the first nine months of 2020 compared to 2019.

During lockdown sales of £1 million-plus houses plummeted and there were just 69 in the week ending April 19. Despite that, a total of 23,000 sales of seven figure properties were agreed in the first three quarters of 2020, 16 per cent higher than in 2019.

Ashley Rawlings from Savills Wimborne said: "Lifestyle relocation has been a big theme in the market since lockdown began to ease and this is very clearly reflected in the numbers."

Lucian Cook, Savills head of residential research, said: "By the year end we now expect the number of £1 million-plus sales agreed to exceed 2019 volumes - a performance nobody could have anticipated in the depths of lockdown."

As part of its measures to help boost house sales, the Government has reduced stamp duty for residential properties purchased before March 31, 2021.

Mr Cook said: "For many the challenge is now in getting deals through to completion by Christmas, after which eyes will be on beating the March 31 stamp duty holiday deadline in order to benefit from the maximum £15,000 saving for those buying at this end of the market."