LATEST PROPERTY MARKET NEWS

(scroll down the page to view all articles in chronological order and click on individual item for full story)

Dec 2009 Rural Idyll - City Buyers flock to be Lord of the Manor in buying prime
UK Country Houses & Estates...read more

Dec 2009 London Property Market
Prices continue to rise in London with lots of last minute Christmas Property shopping activity,
according to Knight Frank's latest report...read more

Q4 2009 Market Report -
UK Country Estates & farm property markets set to outperform in 2010
...read more

Country Property for sale in Bassett Down, Wiltshire
By UK Country Property Sales
Dated: Nov 30, 2009
6 bed Grade II listed house - 2 cottages - Modern & traditional buildings - 2 industrial units -
In all about 83.72 acres....read more

Country Property for Sale in Bradford-On-Avon, Bath, Wiltshire
5 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, conservatory, boot room. 9 bedrooms, 4 bath/shower rooms, utility, cellars. Leisure complex. Formal gardens. 2 cottages, outbuildings. Extensive equestrian facilities. Approx 109 acres in all...read more

2009 - Prime London Property Review
Prices for property in central London rose by 1% in August, the fifth month
in a row that prices have risen. The latest price rise means that prices are now 6.4%
higher than they were in March, the low point in the recent market cycle. Click to view the full report from Knight Frank....

Country House for sale in Winchester, Hampshire - Offers in excess of £4,000,000
By UK Country Property Sales
Dated: Nov 26, 2009

Country House for sale in Preston Candover, Basingstoke, Hampshire
By UK Country Property Sales
Dated: Nov 26, 2009

Country Property for sale in Burley, New Forest, Hampshire
By UK Country Property Sales
Dated: Nov 26, 2009

Country Property for sale in Odiham, Hampshire - New to the market
By UK Country Property Sales
Dated: Nov 25, 2009

Queen Ann Style Hampshire Country Home for Sale
By UK Country Property Sale
Dated: Nov 25, 2009

Country Property for sale in Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire - New to the Market
By UK Country Property Sale
Dated: Nov 25, 2009

TOP 10 UK COUNTRY PROPERTIES FOR SALE THIS SPRING

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1. Cherington Hill, Oxfordshire - £5.85m
Cherington Hill looks like a 12th-century monastery, to which the Georgians added a perfect red-brick square house with sash windows. Yet the whole property, which is surrounded by 70 acres managed by a local farmer, was built over the course of just one year – 2006, on the site of a derelict farm cottage and barn. Additional land and two cottages are also available.




2. Wyck Place, Hampshire - £6.5m
Wyck Place in Alton (London 50 miles) looks like a castle from certain angles and a Queen Anne house from others – and hasn’t appeared on the open market for 200 years. A fascinating example of Victorian style, with gigantic reception rooms, seven bedrooms and a tower. There are two staff houses, a lake, formal gardens, a tennis court and nearly 40 acres.



3. Home Farm, Gloucestershire - £4.5m
Home Farm, Evenlode near Kingham (London 85 minutes) is a meticulously restored village house, with five bedrooms, annexe, cottage, stables, tennis court, formal gardens and 17 acres plus permission to build a swimming pool.



4. Kilmeston Manor, Hampshire - £5.5m
Kilmeston Manor in a popular village near Winchester is a picture-book country house with eight bedrooms, outbuildings, cottages, walled gardens, tennis court and 20 acres. It needs some modernising but the end result will be stunning.



5. Stockerston Hall, Leicestershire - £5m
Stockerston Hall near Uppingham (London 95 miles) is “a perfect mini estate”, says Mark Lawson of the Buying Solution. It looks out majestically across its own land (266 acres) and has gracious reception rooms, five bedrooms, a staff flat, two cottages and a coach house. There are landscaped gardens, a tennis court, a swimming pool, family shoot and woodland.



6. The Old Vicarage, Cornwall - £4.25m
The Old Vicarage in St Winnow is an immaculate country house with dreamy views over the river Fowey. There are seven bedrooms, beautiful landscaped gardens, a swimming pool, tennis court, staff cottage, a library and eight acres.

7. Newton Peveril Manor, Dorset - £2.5m
Untouched Georgian country houses like Newton Peveril Manor in a village near Wimborne rarely come on the market. It needs renovating but has the makings of an idyllic family home: five bedrooms, pool, stables, paddocks, formal gardens and lake. Near good schools and London is less than two hours.



8. Limefield House, West Lothian - £1.65m
Limefield House is a grand Georgian home with painted ceilings and marble fireplaces, close to Edinburgh. Extensive (newly renovated) accommodation includes eight bedrooms, annexe and offices. The grounds were landscaped to mimic Victoria Falls.



9. The Old Rectory, Somerset - £2m
Blink and you’ll miss the Old Rectory in Pylle near Castle Cary. It is surrounded by 26 acres and has a symmetrical Georgian floor plan with large reception rooms, plenty of store rooms and six bedrooms. There’s a walled kitchen garden and sweeping drive.



10. The Halesend Estate, Worcestershire - £6-£7m
The Halesend Estate is a sporting estate and country house nine miles from Worcester with nine bedrooms, a summer house, cellars, swimming pool, tennis court, stables, four cottages, shoot, trout stream and extensive riding. The complete works.

Central London house prices first to stabilise
March 19 2009

Asking prices in Prime London increased by 0.94% in February, the fourth successive month of rising values.

Asking prices in February rose across four of the five Prime London regions with the largest monthly increase recorded in West/South West London (2.84%).
Central London: the only region to still record positive year-on-year growth (3.24%).

Outside the Capital, prices fell again for the seventh successive month, bringing the average asking prices down 0.39% on January 2009. The South West (-6.57%) and the South East (-1.58%) recorded the largest falls while the West Midlands & Wales (15.61%) and Scotland (8.14%) continued to record strong growth.

Andrew Smith, Primelocation.com's Head of Research, comments: "This is the fourth successive month that the Prime Index has recorded growth in the London market, a trend which is being driven by a decline in stock levels and the return of positive annual growth in Central London.

"Central London has always been a magnet for international capital and at the moment lower prices and the weaker pound are attracting overseas buyers in search of bargains. The recent cut in Base Rate to 0.5% will keep the pressure on the pound so this is a trend which we expect to continue in the months

Source : Primelocation March 19 2009

UK property sales enquiries up
March 13 2009

Encouraging signs are appearing that people want to buy houses again - yet enquiries are still failing to convert into sales.

New buyer enquiries increased in February at the fastest pace since August 2006, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). But the bad news is that agreed sales and sales per surveyor continue to fall.

RICS believes that the falls in Bank of England base rate are stoking consumer interest in buying homes. The implication is that without mortgage lenders making loans more readily available, buyer interest is unlikely to be converted into a big increase in sales for the foreseeable future.

On balance, more surveyors expect house prices to fall further than expect them to rise immediately. That negative sentiment seems to be shared with house sellers. Despite the shortage of house sales, the stock of unsold properties on surveyors' books has fallen. This suggests that some owners have withdrawn properties from the market, while other owners are reluctant to put properties up for sale in current conditions.
Shortage of supply

This shortage of supply has encouraged up-market estate agents Savills to present a more optimistic picture. Savills believes that house prices may now be on the verge of rising. Savills believes that the market fall will reach its bottom at 25% below peak prices in the regions and 30% below peak with prime London properties. In the distressed property market, says Savills, price falls have now reached those levels, while the mainstream market is showing falls in value of between 15% and 20%.

"We could now be about to enter the latter stages of house price falls and be on the brink of the first stage in the recovery process," says Yolande Barnes, head of residential research at Savills. "This is characterised by low supply as well as low demand levels, which causes prices to bottom out.

"We have already seen a pronounced recovery in affordability, thanks to both price falls and reduced interest rates, which sets the platform for a recovery when macro-economic conditions are right. However the return to house price growth will be a faltering process and further bad news on the economy, particularly that which increases fear of unemployment, is likely to delay the point at which static prices turn to price growth."
Prime stock will do best

Barnes adds: "It is prime stock that is likely to first see an upturn and that will characterise the second stage of recovery." But she warns: "It is becoming increasingly likely that the worsening economic climate will have the effect of pushing out the timing of recovery from our earlier projections, perhaps by 12 months."

To put it another way, even the optimistic version of events has a pessimistic sting in the tail. That interpretation is confirmed by the latest house price figures published by the largest UK mortgage lender, the Halifax. Having shown a surprising 2% average house price rise in January, its index reported a 2.3% fall in February. The underlying trend on the last quarter was a 3.6% fall.

Another difficult year?
Halifax's housing economist Martin Ellis says: "Whilst market activity remains at very low levels, there are some tentative signs that activity may be beginning to stabilise. The house price to earnings ratio - a key measure of housing affordability - has fallen to its lowest level for six years. Continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are, however, likely to mean that 2009 will be another difficult year for the housing market."

Camps Bay, Cape Town - Property in demand
March 12 2009

With all the magnificent homes around in Camps Bay today, Property Investment doubles every five years and is continuing to do so.
Camps Bay Entry-level is around R5-million.

Affectionately known as The Strip, the Camps Bay beachfront has it all – perfect palms, a crescent of white sand where bronzed beach-goers glisten in the sun while sipping cocktails behind Gucci shades, and a beautiful, yacht-filled, turquoise bay.

This golden view fronts a suburb that is the envy of beach destinations worldwide. To visitors, Camps Bay is a dazzling, self-contained holiday resort where you can shop at exclusive boutiques, dine at a vast selection of restaurants, party in glamorous style, tan, paraglide, enjoy matchless mountain walks and view cutting-edge architecture – all under the breathtaking gaze of Cape Town’s towering sphinx and against the backdrop of the exquisite Twelve Apostles mountains.

But Camps Bay wasn’t always a playground for local and international glitterati; this is just one of its alluring personalities, and its newest. From the 1940s to the ’60s, it was literally a one-horse town. A white mare named Philly was the village pet. She roamed the streets freely, and in 1957 was made an official freeman of Camps Bay. Philly belonged to Roy de Beer (known by locals as Bak-Beentjies), a well-remembered Camps Bay character who worked from two huge sheds that stood almost exactly where the parking lot behind Pick n Pay is today. His land was essentially a car graveyard.

A resident who grew up in Camps Bay recalls: ‘Bak-Beentjies had a scrapyard full of cars that he kept meaning to work on, plus every other broken object one could possibly imagine, and living in amongst this metal playground were his 40 or 50 cats and dogs.

They seemed to spend all day sleeping under the cars and in old doll prams, enjoying the full attention of their owner. Philly, on the other hand, would wander around, eating people’s flowers and getting fed delicious treats by housewives, who adored her.’

The one-horse town later became a one-horse, one-donkey town when Roy adopted scruffy Nellie. Local children would ride on his back until he’d tire of them; then he’d simply walk under a low branch and knock them off. These hoofed residents are still making Camps Bay’s children smile and watching their village grow – they grin from a huge mural in the entrance hall of Camps Bay High School, as a constant loving reminder of the suburb’s earlier days.

In the early 1800s, when Camps Bay was a backwater suburb that few Capetonians even knew how to get to, lion, leopard and antelope roamed free on the verdant slopes beneath Lion’s Head.

Lord Charles Somerset used The Round House (a small building at the foot of Lion’s Head that was originally a guardhouse and later a farmhouse) as his hunting lodge. His tastes were extravagant and he had it fitted with the finest luxuries of the time. Since then, The Round House has been used for various hospitality endeavours. Today the building has been beautifully restored and houses the exquisite Roundhouse Restaurant.

Nightlife and entertainment in Camps Bay began in the Rotunda, which now forms part of the five-star Bay Hotel. The landmark green-roofed, round building was built in 1904 and was used for roller-skating, dancing, silent-movie viewings and, sometimes, even boxing matches. Today, people find their fun a few metres closer to the sea. On the south side of The Strip is Cape Town’s beautiful Theatre on the Bay, where an excellent variety of local and international productions are staged.

Restaurants and bars are dotted all along the beachfront and spill onto the pavement, creating a real café-culture, cocktails-in-the-sun feel.

Owners don’t have it as easy as it may appear, though. Edmonton block, the restaurant block opposite the famous Café Caprice, recently sold on auction for R44-million, and it’s just over 400m2 – a whopping R110 000 a square metre. This exceedingly high value makes it difficult for any commercial venture to be profitable, and restaurants in Camps Bay have a tendency to frequently change hands. Those notable for their staying power include The Bayside Café, The Sandbar, Café Caprice and Blues.

The up side of the situation: there are always new little gems to be discovered. The most recent summer additions are Bungalow and The Kove, which have brought a crisp sense of style to the previously drab ‘petrol-station side’ of Main Road.

The name ‘Camps Bay’ has been around since the 1700s, when Dutch sailor Fredrik Ernst von Kamptz envisaged a relaxing life for himself on a farm where he could look out over the vast ocean rather than scrub the decks of his ship Holland. Von Kamptz found a lonely widow, Anna Koekemoer, who owned a piece of land with an idyllic view. He married her and became the owner of Ravensteyn, the first farm in the area. Despite only living there for 10 years, he managed to make his mark, with the area becoming known as ‘de Baai van Von Kamptz’.

Perceptions change all the time: Cohen’s Folly was the name given to Isidore Cohen’s swift purchase of a large portion of Camps Bay in the 1920s, when it was known as a bushy waste battered by the southeast and northwest winds. He was one of the very few who saw any potential in the area.

Investment folly? Hardly so. The last few decades tell a very different story.
‘I’ve been working in the area for 15 years and have witnessed its meteoric rise from a sleepy suburb to one of Cape Town’s most desirable areas,’ says Barbara Rogers of Pam Golding Properties. ‘It has proved to be a very good investment area. Even in difficult times, Camps Bay has held property values far better than other areas.’

Careen Bernstein of Dogon Group Properties agrees: ‘I’ve spent most of my adult life selling property in Camps Bay; it has certainly been a good investment area for many people. Three years ago we sold a bungalow on Glen Beach for R21-million and it didn’t even have a garage or off-street parking! More recently we sold a property on a very large erf for R20-million. The purchaser knocked down the house that was there and is now building a mansion of note.’

The numbers rise. A two-storey house recently sold for over R30-million, and this on the previously lower-valued, south side of Camps Bay, closest to Hout Bay. ‘Traditionally, The Glen – at the foot of Lion’s Head, on the north side of Camps Bay – was the most sought-after area because it’s more protected from the wind,’ says a property developer in Camps Bay. ‘But in recent years, high prices have been achieved anywhere in the area. People are far more interested in the house and the quality of the views than the location. Anywhere in Camps Bay is prime.’

Ian Slot, managing director of Seeff Properties, says, ‘Years ago, houses in the Rontree area above Camps Bay Drive as well as the area below it were less sought-after. However, with all the magnificent homes around today, there seems to be little differentiation between areas. Investment doubles every five years and is continuing to do so. Entry-level is around R5-million.’

Architecture has embraced the fact that a house and its views are the factors that fetch high prices. Camps Bay is the ideal canvas for architectural firms, like Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects, Greg Wright Architects, Archilab Architects and Arthur Quinton Darryl Croome Architects; they can capture the natural splendour, reflect it in their designs and ‘bring the outdoors in’.

One building whose design contrasts with the architectural styles emerging in the area is Sonnekus, the only high-rise building on the beachfront. It was completed in the early 1970s, when new developments were hardly questioned. Once it was up, residents panicked as they realised that the beachfront was legally zoned for towering blocks of flats. The potential for a concrete uprising on the beachfront was quickly squashed when Section 98 of the Zoning Scheme Regulations was introduced; it prescribed that future buildings in Camps Bay were to be restricted to 10 metres in height and could only comprise three storeys.

‘To this day, nobody can tell you with any certainty what this actually means,’ sighs Camps Bay resident Chris Willemse, the head of planning for Camps Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association (CBRRA). ‘We’ve fought many court cases and are willing to keep doing so to keep Camps Bay looking like a residential area. The city’s development approval process is abysmal, mostly favouring unacceptable and often illegal development, but we’re working hard to keep a village feel. The CBRRA is not anti-development, but we’re not prepared to allow our very special suburb to be destroyed for anybody’s short-term gain. The three words we keep in mind when development decisions arise are: “sensitive, sensible, sustainable”.’

Brenda Herbert of Herbert Properties has worked as an estate agent in Camps Bay for 33 years. She has lived in the area for 45 years and is an executive member of the CBRRA. She says, ‘Many developments have been legally “trimmed” to comply with the regulations and to avoid dropping the values of neighbouring properties. Development must obviously happen, but it has to blend in with, not mar, the beauty of the surroundings.’

For those looking to move to the area, the community feel is a draw card, as is the community’s efforts to reduce crime. Bernard Shäfer started Camps Bay Watch in February 2008 as an anti-crime initiative under the auspices of the Camps Bay Community Policing Forum. ‘We’ve had a tremendous impact on crime,’ he says, ‘but as a public organisation we intend to continue changing the way residents co-exist and interact in order to restore a cleaner, safer and better functioning suburb for all.’ Does he think Camps Bay is a safe place to live? ‘Yes, definitely; compared with other areas we are relatively safe.’

Some residents are keen for Camps Bay to become a City Improvement District (CID), Bernard says. ‘We’ve had an introductory meeting to educate residents on what a CID entails, but no decision or direction has been taken yet.’
‘Becoming a CID would be very positive and is probably inevitable,’ comments Chris Willemse.

Feb 2009 - Now is the time to buy in Cape Town, South Africa.


With FIFA 2010 coming up, Cape Town South Africa remains an exciting property investment and offers superior world class living for it's residents.

Big-ticket home sales, which have been missing from the market for months, have started to re-appear in the wake of improving sentiment.

So says Shaun Ascough, MD of Sands Home Search International who notes that in recent weeks the level of enquiries from super prime property buyers has increased 5 fold from the level we were experiencing in Qtr 4 2008.

Several luxury homes have been sold in SA, including some of the finest property in the Southern Suburbs and the Atlantic Seaboard.

› LATEST NEWS: Jan 2009 - £1.5million buys you 'Heaven on Earth' in Upper Constantia, Cape Town. 7 bed Upper Constantia Villa with the Best Views in Cape Town's Southern Suburbs.....read more

"Last year there was only bad news – Eskom, Zimbabwe, higher interest rates and bigger deposits – and everyone froze in their tracks and put home purchasing on hold. This year there is much good news among the bad, people have adjusted to their new circumstances and things are starting to move again," he says.

Many of these multimillion-rand sales are cash deals and so do not really depend on declining interest rates but on improving sentiment. Prices have also declined substantially and this always induces the shrewd market to come out of woodwork.

Public reports confirm that emigration has dropped drastically and significant numbers of expats are returning to South Africa as they flee the fallout of the financial crisis in the UK, Europe and Australia. This is another positive for SA in terms of meeting our skills shortage and creating jobs that will ultimately boost housing demand.

Meanwhile, interest rates have fallen by a further 1% this week and are expected to fall further in the coming months. Inflation is falling and disposable incomes improving, which is already increasing the demand for housing.

"With FIFA 2010 Football World Cup just around the corner it does appear that we are now on the threshold of the bottom of the market and that a turn is in sight. Big-ticket sales are a strong indicator of returning confidence and this combined with an improving credit outlook should see prices stabilise in the second half of the year."

Cash buyers scent rich pickings in property.

This grab-a-bargain-now strategy is based on the belief that if you catch a market within 10 per cent of its bottom, you are doing well. This trend is set to increase the proportion of homes owned without a mortgage, which stands at 45 per cent in England.

Savills, the estate agent that forecast a year ago that property values were set for a 25 per cent decline, is finding that buyers are prepared to deal if the prices are reduced by that amount, according to Yolande Barnes, residential research director.

Ms Barnes believes that interest at this level could be a factor militating against another steep decline. Property is acquiring safe-haven status, with the moneyed classes spooked by the Icelandic banking scandal and weary of poor stock market performance.

First-timers left behind by bargain-hunters.

Buyers lining up, but mortgages out of reach .

James Hyman, residential partner at Cluttons, the property consultant, said: “The risk element of property investment is beginning to be removed. Stock market values are down, banks are not offering any form of return and with rental values holding up in London, in many cases it is now once again becoming cheaper to buy than rent.” However, like other agents, Mr Hyman insisted that the market remains fragile.

The recent increase in viewings after months of torpor that was reported by Savills yesterday is also being experienced by other agencies. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' monthly survey of its members revealed a rekindling of enthusiasm among buyers.

But many of those eager to clamber on to or ascend the ladder are unable to proceed as a result of the continuing shortage of mortgage funds. Yesterday's figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed that lending slumped by 48 per cent last year; in recent weeks, there has been little sign of improvement.

Ms Barnes said the housing market was in stage one of its recovery, with life returning to the “über-towns” of the South East, such as Cambridge, Guildford, Oxford, Sevenoaks and Winchester. These are within reach of London, with good schools and handsome family homes close to the town centre.

But she added that the process would not extend nationwide for a decade; prices will not be restored to their 2007 levels until as late as 2019 in some locations. “We are far from seeing green shoots but the seeds are about to be watered,” Ms Barnes said.

Lucian Cook, of Savills, believes that “funds are massing” and overseas investors are once more active in the market. In stage two, the revival will spread outside the capital to the top tier of properties in locations, with owner-occupiers using equity to move upwards on the ladder.

Other sectors will start to feel the benefit in stage three when mortgages become more plentiful. Only in the final phase of the upturn will prospects brighten for first-time buyers and amateur buy-to-let investors.

— The number of mortgages granted to homebuyers nearly halved last year, falling to the lowest level since 1974 as banks and building societies reined in lending despite several big lenders receiving billions of pounds in taxpayers' cash.

Some 516,000 home loans were granted to buyers in 2008, down from 1.01 million in 2007 and the lowest number since records began nearly 35 years ago, figures from the CML show. The number of first-time buyers, crucial to the health of the housing market, also plunged to a record low.

source: Times online

UK House price growth of 1.9% recorded in Jan 2009.

Astute buyers starting to buy in the super prime property market.

Heartened by a significant increase in the number of buyer enquiries and viewings recorded in January, country agents everywhere are scanning the landscape for signs of those elusive ‘green shoots of recovery’. It’s still early days, but the launch of the first batch of classic country houses to hit the market in 2009 will surely provide a pointer as to how things will go for the rest of the year.

The property market in December performed better than expected, according to the NAEA. They found the number of sales agreed per month remained the same as in November, rather than falling as expected in a usually quiet month, and also that the number of first-time buyers increased slightly (a number which has been rising since August) to make up an average of 10.8% of all buyers. Upmarket agents and property finders are reporting a recent surge in enquiries from Middle Eastern buyers who want to take advantage of the weak pound, particularly in the Home Counties.

Half a percentage point has been shaved off interest rates by the Bank of England today and they now stand at 1%. Some are already speculating that rates will drop to 0% before the year is out, however, others - including the Federation of Small Businesses - argue that they should have stayed at 1.5%.

Providing lenders pass the cut on, it is hoped that this will encourage more buyers into the property market. All the main country agents & buying agents advise that new client enquiries in both London and the Country have significantly increased with buyers keeping an eye on what they perceive to be the bottom of the market. Clients who need to purchase this year are aiming to do so whilst house prices are still on a downward slope, and with savings rates at an all time low, now is looking like a good time for them to protect their capital in the long term by way of property purchase.

Are UK Country Estates Still Selling?

Friday 19th December 2008
Source : Times Online


This year has seen some spectacular estates change hands, but now the recession is biting
Image :1 of 10

When Longparish House, a Grade II*-listed nine-bed house in Hampshire with extensive chalk-stream fishing, went on sale in April with a guide price of £9m, the owners and agents waited to see if anyone would take the bait.

They were not disappointed. Three bidders fought over the property, set in 173 acres in the Test Valley, and it eventually went for almost £13m. This followed the sale the previous month of Duntisbourne House, in the Cotswolds, for £3m more than its £5m guide.

Then, in early summer, after Turville Court, Oxfordshire, sold for £22m and the Blairs splashed out on a £4m mini-stately of their own, it looked as if the country-house sector might ride out the turbulence afflicting the market as a whole. It was not to be: after Lehman Brothers failed in September and the economic downturn worsened, even some of the country’s most glorious Georgian piles had six-figure sums slashed from their price tags.

“Some properties that came to the market a year or so ago have seen their asking prices fall by as much as 30%,” says Rupert Sweeting, head of the country-house department at the estate agent Knight Frank. After “the mega-boom of the last 18 months”, he adds, he has already come across one multi-million-pound distress sale.

Marsh Court, a 10-bedroom house in Stockbridge, Hampshire, which came onto the market in April 2007 for £13m, was relaunched this June for £10m and sold for £11m in September. Grade I-listed Chicheley Hall, in Buckingham-shire, which went on sale in July last year for £9m, had its asking price slashed to £7m in January and went for close to that in June.

Many more sellers are retiring from the fight altogether, including the owners of Furzehill Place, in Surrey, once home to the Victorian explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. They have taken the property – guide price £7m – off the market after eight months.

It is clear that the City-boy-fuelled boom years are over – but what does the next year hold? “There’s still a lot of money out there, and a lot of people still have an ambition to buy a chunk of England,” says Mark Lawson, a director of The Buying Solution, an upmarket agency. He warns, however, that until buyers regain the confidence to spend and sellers are willing to brave the market, 2009 will be very tough indeed.

1 Sold! March, £8.5m+ Gloucestershire

Seven-bedroom Duntisbourne House, in 70 acres of glorious Cotswold countryside, was the first real test of the market. The 18th-century property, which has a lodge, a staff flat, stables, a tennis court and a pool, went on sale in March with a guide price of £5m. It sold in three weeks for at least £3.5m more. “It was bound to create a premium, but the question was, ‘How much?’,” says Henry Holland Hibbert, head of the country-house department at the selling agent, Strutt & Parker. Cynics might say the guide price was set low to encourage competitive bidding.

2 Sold! June, £20m Cambridgeshire

Set in 2,500 acres, six-bedroom Tetworth Hall, four miles from Sandy, was the first big residential estate sale of the year. The 18th-century mansion was snapped up by a local buyer in June, when land prices were at their peak, less than three weeks after it came on the market. The estate includes three farmhouses, 13 cottages and a pheasant shoot. Mark McAndrew, head of farms and estates, says: “It sold for more than the guide price following stiff competition.”

3 Sold! September, £15m Channel Islands

The first Channel Island to go on sale for years, Herm, famed for its white sands speckled with thousands of colourful shells, came on the market in May. Available on a 40-year lease, the property includes a manor house, a 13th-century chapel, 80 acres of farmland with a dairy herd and what is thought to be the world’s smallest jail. Its owner also has to run the daily 22-ton ferry, the Herm Seahorse, which links the island with Guernsey, 20 minutes away. It was sold through Knight Frank and Martel Maides to a local couple who will continue to run it as a holiday business. They will also be able to take advantage of their own tax haven, paying 20% on income and avoiding death duties and capital-gains tax.

4 Sold! September, £25m Norfolk

When it went on sale in August, Kelling Hall, near Cromer, was the most expensive estate to come onto the market this year. The property, which has 13 bedrooms and is set in 1,600 acres, with seven cottages and 20 further properties, exchanged contracts at the guide price. It was bought by Gary Widdowson, 50, a former showjumper and the owner of Metal & Waste Recycling. Estimated to be worth £160m, he also owns a private dock on the River Thames. A friend said: “He and his wife had fallen in love with the estate and were keen to be part of the community.” Tom Goodley, a partner in the Norwich office of the selling agent, Strutt & Parker, says: “It sold within eight weeks. We are extremely pleased, considering what has happened in the financial world.”

5 Stuck! £25m Dorset

A rich man’s toy, rather than a working estate, Encombe House, set in 2,000 acres, was described by Mark McAndrew, head of farms and estates at the joint selling agent, Strutt & Parker, as “an exceptional and entrancing place” when it launched in September. Three months on, it is still for sale after the collapse of two deals. The Grade II*-listed, 13-bedroom Georgian house is surrounded by 60 acres of formal gardens and parkland, and has a pool and a Grecian-style temple. Had it come onto the market a year earlier, it would probably have fetched more than £25m, but it is expected to sell for just below that in the next few months. Savills, 020 7409 8882, www.savills. co.uk; Strutt & Parker, 020 7629 7282, www.struttandparker.co.uk

6 Stuck! £10m Cornwall

The Morval estate, 2½ miles outside Looe, runs to 1,130 lush acres, and came to the market in May when the bluebells were still in flower. Now the ground is blanketed in a white frost, the Kitson family, who are selling the property, still haven’t found a buyer. The pheasant shoot may be famous locally, and the views spectacular – morval means “sea view” – but there is no main manor house to show off. Any new owner will need either to gain planning permission for a new property or to persuade one of the tenants of the three let farms and few dozen cottages to move out. The rental income for the estate is £148,800. It is 20 miles from Plymouth and 35 from Newquay airport, from which there are daily flights to London. There are also two Lords of the Manorships of Morval and Penarth, available by separate negotiation. Savills; 020 7499 8644, www.savills.co.uk

7 Stuck! £13m Hampshire

Lord Irvine Laidlaw, the owner of Moundsmere Manor, may be wishing he had taken up one of the offers close to the £14m guide price when the property went on sale in 2006. He is still looking for a buyer for his country pile, set in 84 acres at Preston Candover, despite having cut the price by £1m in the spring. Laidlaw, who lives in Monaco, bought it for £9m in 2005, but has yet to spend a night in any of the 15 bedrooms. Savills, 020 7409 8823, www.savills.co.uk; Knight Frank, 020 7629 8171, www.knightfrank.co.uk

8 Sold! October, £10m Dorset

Even Thornhill Park, in Blackmoor Vale, couldn’t completely defy the credit crunch. The eight-bedroom house, part Renaissance villa, part English stately home, and set in 104 acres of gardens and grounds, came onto the market in November last year with a guide price of £12m. It finally sold this October to an unknown British buyer after a £2m reduction.

9 Stuck! £10m North Yorkshire

Sawley Hall, a boxy, ochre-coloured early-Georgian house at the centre of a 950-acre sporting estate near Harrogate, went on sale in May. The immaculately restored property has 10 bedrooms, four reception rooms, a trophy room, three cottages, courtyard stables, a trout pond and a deer park. The estate has a nice round price tag, and has attracted lots of interest and even one serious offer, but that came to nothing, so it is still available. Savills; 020 7409 8882, www.savills.co.uk

10 Sold! September, £25m Norfolk

The Easton agricultural estate sold for just below the guide price when it came onto the market in September. Spanning 2,417 acres, it includes a restored Georgian principal house with five reception rooms and 12 bedrooms, surrounded by formal gardens with a swimming pool, as well as a coach house, three farmhouses, 25 cottages and one staff flat. It went to a British buyer who had been looking for a suitable estate for five years. Nearby, the 1,098-acre High House estate is still for sale for £9.5m.

CKD Kennedy Macpherson, 020 7409 1944, www.ckd.co.uk; Strutt & Parker, 020 7629 7282, www.struttandparker.co.uk

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Super Prime Property is staying TOP OF THE PILE

Friday, 1st August 2008
Source : Times Online

Owning a fancy London home on a notable road has recently lost some of its appeal. The rate of house price falls in London has overtaken that of the rest of the UK, Land Registry data out this week shows, with the average price in the capital now just £345,136, down 2.5per cent in June. These falls are being blamed on the decline of prime: just a few months ago, the prime market was resilient in the face of economic gloom and the credit crunch, but now Knight Frank, the top-end agent, reports a decline of as much as 10 per cent in the value of homes up to £2 million.

The problem is that the owners of prime homes priced under £3 million are dominated by City workers and corporate managers, who have been unnerved by the economic upheavals - a change from recent boom years, when the bonus season sparked months of property one-upmanship. Prime property transactions are down 50 per cent, Knight Frank says, compared with 39 per cent across all price ranges in England and Wales reported by the Land Registry.

But observers are taking comfort from the super-prime market, which Knight Frank now defines as homes priced over £10 million. There is a perception that super-prime will inevitably suffer a turnaround in fortunes in line with that experienced by mainstream prime. But Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of research, thinks that it may fleetingly have caught a cold. He explains: “When the credit crunch hit, the super-prime market was the first to stutter. Between October and February super-prime was dead, because of the chatter about changes to non-dom tax rules and nervousness about London's future as a financial centre. But super-prime prices are now higher than a year and even six months ago.”

High net-worth foreign buyers are choosing to stay put in London, seemingly unaffected by economic worries. Paul Tabor, of the property search agent Garrington, says that the rise of countries such as China and India is helping to sustain demand for the best London homes, which are - as ever - in short supply. The result is, as Liam Bailey says, “we are selling twice as many super-prime houses as a year ago. We have still got sealed-bid situations or best and final offers on properties above £8 million, and there is very little discounting.”

For those with a home worth less, experts counsel against feeling too downcast. Yolande Barnes, of Savills, expects prime property to rebound sharply when conditions brighten - a view shared by Liam Bailey.

The Bishops Avenue : Where the money still talks

Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Source : The Telegraph

For a house which resembles a chapel of remembrance at an American military cemetery, it is quite a coup. The sale of Toprak Mansion, in The Bishops Avenue, Highgate, north London, last week for "just short" of its £50 million asking price might seem an extravagance at the best of times. In the middle of a credit crunch, when the US and probably our own economies are heading for recession, it comes across as a surprising postscript to the property boom.

Top whack: Toprak Mansion marks a revival for The Bishops Avenue

Toprak Mansion, built by Turkish entrepreneur Halis Toprak in the early 1990s, is more of a house than it looks from its façade. The 33,000 sq ft property, in two acres of gardens, has an 80ft-wide ballroom, a marble Turkish bath and underground parking for 28 Rolls-Royces. Nevertheless, it had been on the market for nearly three years, and lies in a street which, despite its reputation as "Billonaire's Row" appeared to be going downhill fast.

The recent history of The Bishops Avenue has been one of dereliction, squatters, unseemly planning battles, unsold homes and, in some cases, falling prices. Number 5 sold for £3·15 million in February 2001 and again for £3·05 million in June 2005.

The Bishops Avenue has always invited intrigue. On New Year's Eve, 1984, Greek Cypriot fashion tycoon Aristos Constantinou was shot dead in his private chapel. In the early Nineties, the street lost another prominent resident when Asil Nadir fled to Northern Cyprus to escape charges of theft totalling £34 million.

But the rot set in during the Nineties when the borough of Barnet decided to list some of the original Edwardian houses. The council's opinion of the likes of Toprak Mansion, set out in its planning notes for the street, is damning: "The quality of architecture is often dull or aggressively modern. Many have taken the desire to impress to new heights and pay no regard to the vernacular architecture but rather reflect the vagaries of the individual whim of their owners."

Simon Edwards, of Savills, says: "One of the attractions of The Bishops Avenue was that you could pretty much do what you like because there were no planning restrictions. But when Barnet listed some of the properties, it substantially devalued them. The developers who owned one argued that Barnet had no power to list the properties, but the council won in court."

Avenue on sale: Six beds, sauna and garden for £8·1 million, Seven beds, staff quarters and leisure complex for £22 million.

Some peeved owners chose to let buildings decay while they battled with the planners to replace modest Edwardian houses with grand mansions or apartment blocks. No 44 was left derelict for over a decade. Matters reached a head in 2001 when squatters camped at another derelict property, Jersey House.

Things began to improve, however, in 2005 when permission was given to replace No 44 with two blocks of 12 apartments. Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who lives next door, complained that the flats would impinge upon his privacy. But the apartments, which will be known as Allingham Court and will be marketed by Barratt Homes next month, have helped to remove an eyesore.

Barratt declines to disclose prices, but there is a chance they might just be in range of North Londoners made good. "In the Seventies and Eighties, the street lost a bit of its community spirit," says Trevor Abrahamsohn of Glentree International, which sold Toprak Mansion. "But it has started to regain that. With the development of apartment blocks there are at last some properties which English and European buyers can afford."

Fall in London house asking prices could signal easing across the country

Friday, 24 August 2007
Source : Timesonline

Asking prices for properties in London have fallen for the first time in a year, bringing hope that softer conditions in the capital could ease affordability pressures across the country.

Rightmove, the property website, said that London asking prices, which had risen by around 2 per cent per month for the past year, fell by 0.1 per cent in the past month.

The data suggested that sellers are adopting more realistic pricing expectations as purchasers struggle to cope with the impact of five rises in interest rates over the past year and mounting global economic uncertainty.

Across England and Wales, prices were up by a modest 0.6 per cent in August, compared with 0.3 per cent in July. That took the annual rate up to 12.8 per cent from 10.3 per cent last month.

Despite the rise, Rightmove said that the trend was consistent with house prices increasing more in line with wage inflation for the foreseeable future.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said that the weaker figures for London were an early indicator of the market’s direction. “This fall is the first we have seen for some time and is an early warning signal that even the buoyant London economy is susceptible to market forces,” he said. “The capital and international status of London means that prices are likely to be more resilient in the longer term, unless the current turmoil in the financial market undermines employment and wealth creation.”

Although City bonuses - a key factor at the top end of the market - may be well down at the end of this year and in early 2008, it is too early for them to be having much impact.

Figures from Nationwide last month suggested that the UK market is finally slowing down, after a “mini-boom” which lasted a year and a half and which saw the revival of double-digit property inflation.

If the weakness reported by Rightmove spreads nationwide, it would lower pressure on the Bank of England to move swiftly with another interest-rate rise. The Bank had suggested in this month’s Inflation Report that a sixth rise might be needed to stem infla-tionary pressures, but expectations of an imminent move have dropped after soft inflation numbers and amid chaos in the financial markets.
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Slowdown in London House Prices

Friday, 24 August 2007
Source : Ian Springett, Chief Executive of www.primelocation.com

The prime London sales market has produced tremendous consecutive month-on-month price growth in recent times. The figures from July’s data highlighting a slowdown are significant, but only for the reason that we are seeing the end of a seventeen month trend of unprecedented price rises. However, we are not seeing overall prime London property values in decline. Indeed, prices are still rising, albeit more slowly than in previous months. With stock levels still some 20% lower than in July 2005, the supply of property is currently not returning to the market fast enough to significantly impact current price inflation levels. In addition, the fundamental component of demand is still supporting the market, primarily through international investors and City employees. We do, however, expect a continued softening of price growth towards the end of 2007.

"The prime country market has really started to perform, with a much healthier balance of demand and supply underpinning steady price rises over the last few months. It is no surprise to see double-digit growth across the South East as the activity in London ripples out into the Home Counties, an increasing area of interest for overseas buyers and those looking to move from the capital.

"Prime London rental property prices continue to thrive, up 10.5% annually. Seasonal rental supply should peak over the next month or two, which may erode the level of price inflation temporarily, but we expect prices to continue with robust growth for the rest of the year."
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Nearly half of all prime country houses in the South East are being bought by buyers from overseas, a new report reveals

Wednesday, 25 August 2007
Source: Country Life

Buyers from overseas are responsible for sweeping up 43% of prime country property in the UK. The latest findings from Knight Frank report that prices of country houses grew by an average of 3.3% in the second quarter of this year.

Manor houses continue to be the strongest performing country house sub sector, with average growth of 4.1% in the quarter. The average price of a manor house now stands at over £3.1million. Further down the scale, the average price of farmhouses increased by 3.0%, while cottages increased by 2.8%.

Price growth has been led by the most expensive brackets: properties worth £4million and above rose by 21.2% in value compared to 8.5% for those priced at under £1million.

Knight Frank's Head of Residential Research, Liam Bailey, comments: '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% to average a little over £562,000 while the price of farmhouses increased by 3.0% to an average price of just over £1,311,000.

The South West region was the best performing region in the UK with property prices increasing by an average of 5.3% in the first quarter of the year.

Knight Frank say that the indicators from London are positive at the top end (above £3 million) with rapid turnover, low supply and high demand. The mid prime market (£1-3 million) is more subdued.

'In the year to June 2007, overseas buyers accounted for 14% of all prime country house purchases. That figure rises to 43% in the South East of England above £5 million. At this level the share of the super-prime market is taken by: 29% European, 9% Russian, 1% US, 2% Asian, 2% Middle Eastern, 1% Rest of the World.'

Top ten counties for price growth, 12 months to June 2007
County | % price growth, 12 months to June 2007
East Sussex | 27.5%
Wiltshire |25.0%
Cornwall | 24.6%
Kent | 17.9%
Somerset | 16.0%
Hampshire | 15.9%
Surrey | 15.8%
Buckinghamshire | 15.8%
Dorset | 14.5%
Berkshire | 13.7%
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Prices in prime central London continue to soar, due to an unprecedented lack of supply

Monday, 20 August 2007
Source: Country Life

London prices continue to grow at an incredible rate according to Knight Frank, which has recorded the highest monthly rate of growth in the capital – 3.6% – since its records began in 1976. It also says the annualised rate - 36.4% in the 12 months to July. Their research found this is the fastest rate of growth in the capital since 1979 and means that prices in central London are now rising faster than the wider UK market by almost three times, with Belgravia and Knightsbridge leading the way.

Evidence of this becomes obvious when prices per square foot are examined: exceptional London properties are now hitting £3,000 per sq ft, while Knight Frank says some are even breaking through the £4,000 per sq ft barrier; prices unmatched in the rest of the world.

One of the reasons for this huge leap in prices is the demand for top-level property in central London from foreign buyers, points out the agent. Over 61% of all property sales over £4m in this area go to buyers form overseas it says, who tend to hold onto their properties for a long time, and don't release a property onto the market when they buy one.

'We have seen a phenomenal market in central London in recent years – led by a strong City economy, very healthy bonus rounds and growing employment and population levels in London. But this is only one half of the story – the demand side,' said Liam Bailey head of residential research at Knight Frank.

He pointed out that foreign buyers are keener to hang onto their property, even after their period in London – be it for work or pleasure – is over. Property in the capital is now seen as such a good investment that houses are not coming back onto the market in the way they used to. In 2004, according to this research an average foreign landlord letting a property after first having occupied it would only hold it for an average of nine months before sale. In 2007 the figure was 20 months, and is still rising, hence the idea that good London property is 'disappearing'.
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Peace, quiet and property prices could be under threat in southern England if proposals to introduce a new flight path go ahead

Monday, 20 August 2007
Source: Country Life

The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) has proposed to create a new flight path over some of the most cherished and tranquil countryside in England.

The flight path will cut right through the Cotswolds and the North Wessex Downs, slice down the Test Valley and bisect the New Forest – through the middle of the two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a national park. If this proposal goes ahead, flights on this new route will run throughout the night and they will start as early as April next year.

Airplanes will pass as low as 5,500ft, generating up to 70 decibels of noise. At this volume, the sound of an aircraft overhead is equal to that of a car at 40mph passing about 20ft away. According to the national Tranquillity Map, plotted by the CPRE, this same area is a rare survivor, one of the least disturbed by noise pollution in England.

The proposal also has another dimension. Some 30 airplanes a night will travel along it to begin with, but there is nothing to stop it being used far more heavily by the two southern airports – Bournemouth and Southampton – it is designed to service. Essentially, a five-mile-wide 'motorway' in the sky is being created and it will inevitably generate traffic. Passenger numbers are forecast to triple at Bournemouth airport within 10 years, from one million to three million; Southampton currently handles fewer than two million passengers, but that number is also expected to triple by 2015, and double again to six million by the year 2030.

'We are constantly reviewing airspace. It is a rolling process,' declares a NATS spokesman.
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