Sudbury sticks out in an index of postcodes in which more than five homes changed hands for at least £1m over the course of 2014. It was the only location in the top 10 not in the capital or the immediate London commuter belt.
The number of sales of properties in Sudbury worth more than £1m rose from one to seven last year. House prices in the area increased by 12pc for the year to December, compared with the average of 7.8pc across Britain, according to research from the international estate agent, Hamptons.
Sudbury came sixth in the top 10 ranking behind Stoneleigh and Headley in Epsom, and New Cross, Bethnal Green and Harrow in London. The top ten was rounded out by three more London areas — Edgware, Brentford and Berrylands in Kingston-upon-Thames.
Tom Orford, a director at Savills, said: “Sudbury is benefitting from the 'Cambridge effect’. As property around the perimeter of Cambridge have become so expensive, people are moving into Suffolk.”
Sudbury, a market town in the Stour Valley, also has a train station with reasonable commuter links into London. Mr Orford said: “It has classic, Georgian buildings which are commanding these premium figures.”
One of these properties is Baberg Hall (pictured), which is on the market with Jackson Stops and Staff for £1.995m.
Caroline Edwards of Carter Jonas in Long Melford agreed that the West Suffolk area was now attracting more buyers from London, attracted by the handsome old houses and beauty of Constable Country.
“It was traditionally known as an affordable area for people to downsize to. Now that more people don’t have to go to the office every day, we are getting more city buyers. They may have a place in town but want to be in this area because it is very beautiful.”
One of the five reception rooms in the Grade II listed Baberg Hall, near Sudbury.
Berrylands in Kingston and Brentford in Hounslow were other postcode areas where price rises in London - where the annual growth rate peaked at 20pc in the year to June according to the Office of National Statistics - drove up the number of £1m plus sales from one to more than five.
Property prices in London and the South East commuter belt were boosted by high demand from overseas parties, first-time buyers helped by their parents, investors and a natural spike after the recession.
With the average London house price now sitting at more than £500,000, families are exploring the commuter belt, home counties and even the bottom of Suffolk for better value for money.
In total, there were 16 postcodes across the UK in which the number of £1m-plus sales increased to five or more in 2014.
Two more of these are outside the M25: Royal Tunbridge Wells and Oundle in East Northamptonshire.
Johnny Morris, head of residential research at Hamptons, said most of the areas on the list could be broken down into three distinct groups: “Areas on the fringes of inner London that are currently on the up, markets in outer London beneftting from the flow of demand moving out from expensive inner boroughs, and the commuter belt.
The Baberg Hall dining room.