COUNTRY LIFE Elite Property Index

Penny Churchill analyses the index of country houses advertised in COUNTRY LIFE in 2000-01, a period of unprecedented prices and levels of activity at the top of the British property market. What trends does this unique source of information reveal? CLEPI

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[b]COUNTRY LIFE[/b] Elite Property Index
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A number of significant trends are revealed by the performance of the elite property market in the UK over the past 10 years, as reflected in the volume of property advertising carried by COUNTRY LIFE between 1992 and 2001. The first, and most obvious, is that not only are the rich getting richer, but that there are now a lot more of them. The volume of transactions at the upper end of the property market doubled between 1992 (the depths of the last recession) and 2001 (which heralded the start of the present one, if that is indeed what we are in), and data from the COUNTRY LIFE Elite Property Index - which tracks the price of every property advertised - shows that prime country-house prices have more than trebled in many cases, especially in popular counties such as Hampshire and Surrey. In 1992, the million-pound house was a rare beast anywhere in the country; today one in seven houses advertised in COUNTRY LIFE are priced at œ1 million or more. The average price of a property in COUNTRY LIFE is now about œ600,000. To put that figure into perspective, the latest reports from leading mortgage lenders put the average value of a home in Britain as a whole at less than £100,000. Major findings from the COUNTRY LIFE Elite Property Index

  • The average price of prime country houses has more than trebled since 1992.
  • The average price of houses advertised in COUNTRY LIFE is œ600,000.
  • The number of houses advertised in COUNTRY LIFE rose by 15% in 2001.
  • Devon has taken over from Oxfordshire with the most houses advertised in

In the Home Counties, Hampshire is the most popular county for country-house buyers, replacing the 2000 favourite, Surrey. In 2001 Spain and the Balearics replaced France as the main focus of overseas property investment. Top counties for buyers 2000 2 Surrey 4 Sussex 2001 2 Oxfordshire 4 Sussex Top countries for property investment 2000 2 Spain 4 Portugal 2001 1 Spain 3 Caribbean/Barbados 4= Portugal This article appeared in COUNTRY LIFE magazine. Penny Churchill will analyse the trends revealed in the COUNTRY LIFE Elite Property Index at regular intervals. Her next report will appear in July. To subscribe to click here.

Country Life
Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.

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