Countryside Market Cools

After two years of healthy growth, house prices in 25 regional market towns have fallen by an average of 2% in the last 12 months, reports Abode2 luxury property magazine.

The house price heat for countryside locations is starting to escape, suggests estate agency comparison website GetAgent. Country property prices boomed through the pandemic, but have fallen over the last year.

The average house price in one of Britain’s 25 most lovely regional market towns risen by 9% since pre-pandemic 2019, to £323,603 in the current market.

Alresford in Winchester is the most expensive of GetAgent’s list of 25 market towns (the average home currently costs £518,787). Lewes in Sussex is the second-priciest (£495,768), having seen the highest rate of price growth; +29% over three years.

Machynlleth in Powys has also seen some significant price inflation, with the average house price jumping 23% since 2019.

Tetbury in the Cotswolds (18%), Monmouth (16%), Wareham (15%) and Kenswich in Allerdale (15%) have also seen big growth, and Alresford, Cranbrook, Chagford, Midhurst and Builth Wells are also in double-digit territory.

In the last year, the average price of a home across these 25 market towns has fallen by 2%. 16 of the towns have seen a reduction in the average property value, with a further four remaining largely flat.

Morpeth in Northumberland has seen the largest market correction, with the average house price down 14% in the last 12 months. Denbigh (-12%) and Wetherby (-11%) have also seen double digit drops.

The homebuyer exodus of urban areas in search of larger homes in greener surroundings has been well documented during the pandemic, with this huge influx of buyer demand in many smaller rural towns leading to some very strong rates of house price growth over the last three years.

However, a return to normality over the last year, in particular, has caused this trend to subside and this is having an immediate impact on property values in market towns.

Countryside house prices are starting to cool after a sustained period of heightened growth but, in the majority of cases, they remain some way above their pre-pandemic benchmark.