Prime properties 'leading house price rises'

Posted: 20 Apr 2010 10:29:59 GMT

Prime properties are leading the way in house price rises, one expert has suggested.

Dominic Agace, chief executive at Winkworth, says while prime housing in London paved the way, properties in the home counties are now also rising in value.

"The more prime the market, the more buoyant it is and that has been the case since the beginning of last year," he states.

Mr Agace's comments come as new figures from Knight Frank show that country house prices are now 4.3 per cent higher than they were 12 months ago.

Values of property in the home counties alone rose by 2.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, marking an annual growth of 9.1 per cent.

However, Mr Agcae expects to see a rush of people purchasing homes before the 2011 stamp duty rise for properties valued at over £1 million comes into place.

Stock gets shorter and prime markets get tighter each year because of stamp duty costs, he concludes.

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