According to a recent report from Savills Residential Research, house-price 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.
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.
Prices in some spots down south are continuing to rise, particularly in the area of the Cotswolds from north Oxfordshire to Stow-on-the-Wold. And because of that more people are looking to the north as an alternative, according to 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.
Dspite 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.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
Best country houses for sale this week
An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for
Otterington Hall, a magnificent home with superb topiary and beautiful stables
Yorkshire properties of this calibre are few and far between: this is a spectacular home with three further cottages, amazing
Credit: Jackson-Stops
An exquisite neo-Classical country house executed in perfect symmetry
The enduring English love affair with the Palladian tradition is encapsulated at glorious Henbury Hall in Cheshire, inspired by Villa
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This restoration of a Cliveden garden honours the original vision of Norah Lindsay’s 1930s designA biodiverse climate-friendly planting scheme replaces the annual bedding displays at this National Trust garden in Buckinghamshire.
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The homes of two 1980s TV icons are both up for sale at the same timeThe houses where Bob Monkhouse and Sir Terry Wogan spent decades of their lives are currently on the market. Annabel Dixon takes a look.
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The homes of two 1980s TV icons are both up for sale at the same time
The houses where Bob Monkhouse and Sir Terry Wogan spent decades of their lives are currently on the market. Annabel Dixon takes a look.
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Living on the edge? A lighthouse for sale on a clifftop on one of the most remote islands in BritainBressay Lighthouse was built by the father and uncle of the 'Treasure Island' author.
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Alan Titchmarsh is selling his Hampshire home (and the garden that comes with it): Exclusive pictures and interviewAfter many happy years in Hampshire, the writer, broadcaster and national treasure Alan Titchmarsh is selling up and looking to move. He spoke to Penny Churchill about his years at Manor Farm House.
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A Lake District escape with views that will make you feel like the king of all you can seeMellguards's many guest rooms and dual staircases make this property perfect for people who love to host, but tire of their guests quickly.
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One of Yorkshire's great houses, burnt to the ground three generations ago, is back on its feet and on the market for the sixth time in a millenniumPenny Churchill looks at Riseborough Hall, a great house, rich with fascinating history and beautifully apportioned, which burnt to the ground but rose again.
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Seven magnificent homes from Cumbria to Devon, as seen in Country LifeOur regular look at the best homes to come to the market via Country Life in the past few weeks takes in a breathtaking Lake District house and a superb home in Northamptonshire.
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'Unquestionably one of the most distinctive and stylish homes in the Cotswolds' is for sale, just across a field from Soho HouseWith a staircase upcycled from a Spitfire machine gun factory and , and suspended lights came from a Dutch cargo ship. Every element in this room — and indeed throughout the house — tells a story Annabel Dixon peeks inside.
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The world of super-super prime homes, where £100 million is barely even the starting pointA spectacular mountain retreat coming to the market in Colorado offers a glimpse into the very top end of the global property market. Toby Keel takes a look.
