House prices in the countryside beating urban areas

Rural house prices have outperformed those in urban areas since 2007, according to latest research from the Halifax. In the past five years, the average price of a countryside home has fallen by 20% compared to 22% in urban areas. With an average price of £201,191, the report suggests properties in rural areas are now worth 17% more than its urban equivalent at £171,709.

Chiltern in Buckinghamshire has seen house prices go up by £1,107 per month over the past decade. The least affordable area is Tandridge in Surrey, where the price of a house is 8.4 times greater than the local average annual income while Hambleton in North Yorkshire is the only area outside the south amongst the ten least affordable.

First time buyers account for just over a third of all mortgage financed purchases in rural areas, far fewer than in urban areas where they account for nearly half. Getting on the rural property ladder is most challenging for first time buyers in southern England. While first time buyers only account for only about a quarter of all purchases in Wealden in East Sussex, East Devon and East Hertforsdhire, they account for over half in East Ayrshire, St Edmundsbury in Suffolk, Pendle and Copeland.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, commented: “Country living is an aspiration for many Britons. The fresh air, the scenery, the slower pace,  it all adds to the attraction, but this has its drawbacks. For many of those tempted, the high prices put rural homes out of their reach. First time buyers in particular are affected by high rural property prices, and consequently they account for a far smaller proportion of homebuyers than they do in urban areas. The traditional British country pile has become less affordable, and it is proving more and more difficult to find fruitful results when foraging for houses in the country.”

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