According to the Knight Frank Prime Country House Index, prices of country houses grew by an average of 3.3% in Q2 2007, leading to an annual price growth of 11.6% for manor houses and 10.4% for all country houses.

The main points of the index is that manor houses continue to be the strongest performing country house sub sector, with an average growth of 4.1% in the quarter. Also, the average price of farmhouses increased by 3%, while cottages increased by 2.8%. Once again, the South West is the best performing region looking at price growth in the second quarter of 2007 (5.3%).

However, in the last 12 months East Sussex has led the way in capital appreciation by increasing by 27.5%, Wiltshire is placed second with property prices increasing by 25%, third is Cornwall with properties showing an increase of 24.6% and fourth is Kent with capital growth standing at 17.9%
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of research, says: “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% to an average price of just over £1.3m.”