Record sales in £5m+ country house market in 2021

Last year saw the most £5m+ sales of country houses in 15 years, beating the previous record set in 2020.

The pandemic-inspired surge, which has seen buyers making the most of low interest rates and accumulated savings to pursue more space and greenery, saw £5m+ sales in Knight Frank’s Country Business increase by 21% in 2021 versus 2020.

In 2021, country sales at £5m and above were 76% higher than there were in 2019, the year before the pandemic led to a renewed interest in rural living.

“The country market was pretty flat for a decade before the pandemic and for many buyers and sellers this has been the period that they’ve decided now is the time to get on with it,” said Rupert Sweeting, head of national country sales at Knight Frank.

Last year was also a record for the total amount of new prospective buyers registering interest in the £5m+ country market. New prospective buyers in the £5m+ segment increased by 12% on 2020, the previous record year, and were 139% higher than in 2019.

With such high demand, supply struggled to keep up and the total amount of £5m+ properties available for sale in December 2021 was 30% down on December 2019.

However, prospective sellers appear to be active ahead of the spring market. The number of £5m+ market appraisals for sale, a leading indicator of supply, in December 2021 was the highest for that month in eight years.

While pandemic travel restrictions continued to limit international sales, some global buyers remained active. Two American buyers purchased £5m and above properties after video tours last year, while Chinese and European buyers remain particularly active, according to Rupert.

The £5m+ country house market has been the top-performing segment of the market outside of London during the pandemic. The average price of a property in this price bracket rose by 19.8% in the twelve months to December.

Photo by Adam Sidaway on Unsplash