Multi-million pound mansions are not just for the rich and famous as new figures show more than 66,000 Britons now own a home worth £1 million or more.

Halifax figures found 66,600 properties in the UK are now valued in seven figures compared with just 3,400 ten years ago – a 20-fold increase.

More than half of these can be found in London boroughs, especially Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of Westminster, where 37,200 properties make their owners millionaires

Only 101 houses in Scotland fetched £1m or more, although the figure is still a ten-fold increase over five years.

Industry experts say the seemingly high figures do not give a true picture as million-pound transactions are not seen as typical of the housing market.

"Despite the substantial increase in £1 million sales over the past decade, such sales remain a tiny part of the market, accounting for only 0.4 per cent of all sales in 2005," said Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Halifax.

"Even in London, where sales in this price bracket are far more frequent, £1 million sales represented only two per cent of total property sales last year."