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Impressive year for country house market

25/07/2007

Payment of City bonuses and foreign interest have contributed to a strong start to the year for the UK's country house market, new research has found.

Knight Frank's country house index has revealed that manor houses have seen the largest increases in price, but farmhouses and cottages have also seen rises.

From April to June country house prices rose by an average of 3.3 per cent, contributing to an annualised price growth of 11.6 per cent for manor houses and 10.4 per cent for all country houses.

Thanks to the second quarter results, the average price of a large spacious manor house with its own grounds and private drive is £3,126,000, compared to £2,801,000 during June last year.

East Sussex meanwhile is the county with the largest price growth, with the last year seeing increases of 27.5 per cent. Other counties performing well include Wiltshire, Cornwall, Kent and Somerset.

The lure of the UK's green and pleasant land for foreign investors has proved to be one of the main contributors to country house price growth.

According to Knight Frank, overseas buyers accounted for 14 per cent of all prime country house purchases. Europeans and Russians were found to be the most drawn to the UK.

Commenting on the findings, Knight Frank's head of residential research, Liam Bailey, said: "Payment of City bonuses together with an increasing international presence in the country house market has aided price growth. Cottages have increased price by 2.8 per cent to average a little over £562,000 while the price of farmhouses increased by 3.0 per cent to an average price of just over £1,311,000.

"Prices of manor houses, farmhouses and country cottages have risen by £3,842, £10,483 and £27,117 per month on average since June last year," Mr Bailey added.


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