What the agents say
North Surrey
‘With the prime and super-prime markets in north Surrey having fared noticeably better in the second half of 2017 than in the first, we anticipate this trend continuing into 2018: the issue will be a shortage of top-quality properties, many having been sold in 2017, with few new houses coming off the production line to replace them’ James Cleland, Knight Frank
North Thames and Chilterns
‘The planned growth in housing between Oxford and Cambridge is feeding interest back into the Hertfordshire market, with 2,000 houses planned for Bishops Stortford, leading to an increase in buyer enquiries. Closer to London, the Chilterns countryside around Beaconsfield and Berkhamsted is ever popular, with Crossrail a great draw in Buckinghamshire, in particular around the villages of Cookham and Bourne End’ Damian Gray, Knight Frank
Essex
‘We foresee more people moving out of London in 2018 as the capital continues to see subdued price growth. With 10 years and some 70% price growth behind them, sellers in the affluent parts of east London are cashing in and moving to the commutable areas of Essex. Hotspots for 2018 are likely to be Chelmsford and the towns and villages hugging the A12 corridor ’ Stephen White, Savills
Worcestershire
‘Worcester is undergoing a huge revamp and will be a hotspot to watch next year and with Shrewsbury and Hereford being new university towns, their younger population has grown substantially’ Kevin Boulton, Strutt and Parker
West Country
‘Despite all the challenges thrown at us in 2017, we’ve had our best year since we opened our Exeter office in 2001. We already have a number of properties lined up to hit the market in 2018, so we expect next year to be a repeat performance, if not better’ Sarah-jane Bingham-chick, Savills
North-west
‘Prime country markets have been more resilient to the factors that have subdued London and we expect the north-west of the UK to outperform the rest of the country’ Lindsay Cuthill, Savills
Scotland
‘Edinburgh’s had a stellar 2017 and I predict the city will grow as the standout in Scotland in 2018’ Ran Morgan, Knight Frank