Hereford property news
October 2009
The supply of property for sale in the area served by Knight
Frank’s Hereford estate agents has not
been significantly affected by
the downturn in the housing
market.
Choice has always been
limited in this beautiful part of
the world due to the longevity
of home ownership. While some
prices have been affected, the
best examples in their class
remain resilient. Farms appear
to have weathered the financial
storm well with good
prices being achieved.
Knight Frank’s Hereford estate agents covers a large
swathe of country property for sale either side of the Welsh border
and, while we have recently struck some very
good deals on attractive townhouses in Hereford,
the vast majority of our business covers country
houses in Herefordshire, south Shropshire,
and Monmouthshire. About 20% of our property sales are
in Wales and our reach extends as far as the
Pembrokeshire Coast.
Supply has not dipped as much as in other parts
of the country for a number of reasons.
Rual property valuations
Very few
vendors sell after only a short period of
ownership – properties rarely change hands – and
subsequently tend to be less indebted and more
able to cope with the drop in prices, painful as it
might feel. The main sale drivers tend to be
death, retirement and the other inevitabilities of
life, ensuring a steady stream of availability.
While rural property valuations in general have fallen by about 15%
there is no clear rule of thumb across the area
with prices holding up a little better around more
fashionable towns like Ludlow and those with
good schools and communications such as
Ledbury and Monmouth.
Market towns will
always attract a steady stream of interest and we
have recently sold a number of good townhouses
before they reached the open market.
Though the area itself offers few lucrative
employment opportunities and the distance from
London limits the market for second homes, the
capital remains the most important source of our
best buyers.
Accessibility to employment centres
like Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff also helps to
dictate house prices.
Our Hereford estate agents, in conjunction with our
Farms and Estates department in London, sell a good number
of attractive agricultural properties each year and
prices for farmland remain buoyant at well over
£5,000/acre.