Property market
Which regions have the best possibility for growth in 2018’s uncertain country-house market?
ACcording to a recent report from Savills residential research, houseprice growth in the UK will slow next year, as political and economic uncertainty weighs down the market. Analyst Lawrence Bowles believes that price growth —generally accepted as the measure of a healthy housing market—will be most sluggish in areas where affordability is most stretched. This currently means London and the commuter belt; areas beyond the Home Counties, where incomes have risen more in line with house prices, have greater potential for growth.
‘That’s why we expect the north to outperform London and the rest of the country —especially the north-west, where house prices sit at a modest multiple of average incomes: 5.6 times in the north-west, compared with 12.9 times in London,’ Mr Bowles reveals.
it’s a situation that may well lend wings to the launch by Savills, in november 2017, of one of Cheshire’s most iconic houses, the de Ferranti family’s glorious, neo-classical Henbury Hall, with its immaculate, 530-acre estate near Macclesfield (Property Market,
November 8, 2017). offered at a guide price of £20 million for the whole, the estate has already attracted solid interest both from home and overseas buyers, Crispin Holborow reports.
Back down south, the Cotswolds remains perennially popular, although, according to several leading agents, the area is becoming quite ‘regionalised’, with the majority of buyers tending to cling to the eastern boundary near daylesford, Soho Farmhouse and the M40, that is, from north oxfordshire through to Stow-on-the-wold. With prices continuing to rise in those areas, more people are looking to the north as an alternative, says Luke Morgan of Strutt & Parker, who finds that edge-of-village houses around Harrogate, where a number of houses were sold last year without ever appearing on the open market, are now more popular than ever.
Currently, despite a perennial shortage of houses, there are more sales of country homes in Yorkshire than in any other northern area, say Strutt & Parker. georgian houses, especially those with grand entrances and long, tree-lined drives to guarantee
privacy, are much in demand. A prime example is Otterington Hall, set in 91 acres of famous gardens, parkland, pasture and woodland, between the villages of North and South Otterington, on the western edge of the North York Moors. Built in the early 1800s, with later additions, the impressive, 11,000sq ft house is for sale, for only the second time since the early 1900s, at a guide price of £3.95m through Knight Frank (020–7861 1114) and Strutt & Parker (020–7318 5095).
Scarcity is the seller’s friend in the NorthEast, whether you’re selling a country or a coastal house, says Sam Gibson of Strutt & Parker in Morpeth (01670 516123). ‘In 2017, we witnessed an extraordinary shortage of supply, with pent-up demand causing gazumping in some cases. We must expect
‘Those buying in Yorkshire tend to be a mix of locals upgrading and natives returning home after making their money in London. You don’t get many people buying here who don’t have roots in some way’ Luke Morgan, Strutt & Parker
the same unless we see an increase in supply of houses in the New Year. Happily, we have a few special houses to launch to meet this demand.’
Northumberland is big-sky country, and people aren’t frightened of thinking big when it comes to houses either. Mr Gibson is seeking offers over £1.4m for historic Otterburn Castle at Otterburn, near Newcastle-upon-tyne, a Grade Ii-listed landmark dating back to Norman times (Properties
of the week, October 25, 2017). Currently run as a country-house hotel with 17 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and 32 acres of grounds, ‘the castle has scope to revert to a grand family home, and represents extremely good value for money, with huge development potential’.
Over in Shropshire, Kevin Boulton of Strutt & Parker reports ‘an outstanding 12 months’ in Ludlow, with a 30% increase in the number of houses sold year on year. Lifestyle, community and price remain the
three key drivers for buyers, who are traditionally either semi-retirees or downsizers, although an increase in younger buyers with families from the South-east has been a growing trend since last summer and one that is expected to continue thanks to the county’s many excellent schools.
Last year, fewer buyers were prepared to take on a project, with well-renovated houses remaining hot property, and one of the agent’s best sales was that of the handsome, Georgian Brimfield Lodge set in two acres of grounds in the popular village of Brimfield, near Ludlow. It not only exceeded its £640,000 guide price, but generated the highest volume of viewings of any property on the office’s books in 2017.
Only rarely does Wales, the most northwesterly area of all, figure on the list of country houses bought by southern buyers, although Belinda Hutchinson-smith of Strutt & Parker in Shrewsbury reports a steady market for country property in the Principality. An impressive exception was the sale of gorgeous, Grade Ii-listed Trefri Hall at Aberdovey on the breathtakingly beautiful Dovey Estuary, with views over Cardigan Bay, against the backdrop of the Snowdonian hills. Just like in the old days, a buyer from the South was bowled over on seeing its picture in Country Life and bought the refurbished Georgian house, with its cottage, private island and castellated folly, for £1.75m in August.
‘We’re so lucky here to have vast open countryside, protected rugged landscapes and heritage coastal towns with brilliant character—what’s not to love? The skies in the Northumberland National Park are so truly dark that it was awarded Gold Tier Dark Sky Park status by the International Dark-sky Association’ Sam Gibson, Strutt & Parker