Category — England

London’s housing market continues to defy the skeptics. While prices are slumping around the U.K., London valuations remain on pace for a 17 percent increase in 2007, according to the latest Financial Times house price index.

[Read more →]

The RICS house price balance declined at the fastest pace since July 2005 but limited supply is still propping up the market, says RICS’ UK Housing Market Survey.

Surveyors reported that house price growth remained negative for the third month in succession.

22.2% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than a rise in house prices, down from 14.9  in September -  the fastest decline in sentiment since July 2005 when 30.9%Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than a rise.
However, new instructions declined for the fifth consecutive month. 17% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than a rise in new instructions to sell property. 

[Read more →]

The average price for U.K. farmland is rising at the fastest rate in 30 years, according to Knight Frank, the property company. Values jumped 33.2 percent in 2007, hitting £4,178 per acre in the third quarter (€5,798), compared to £3,137 a year earlier (€4,353).

Demand is being driven by “lifestyle purchasers”—who want a taste of the rural quality of life more than the opportunity to work the land—and foreign buyers, according to Knight Frank. Fifteen percent of all U.K. farmland is now bought by overseas buyers—primarily from Ireland, northern Europe and Russia, the company’s research shows.

[Read more →]