Rural Britain loses allure for buyers

British prime country house prices fell by 3.9 per cent during the second quarter of 2008. The result - compiled as part of the Knight Frank Price Index- is the most severe quarterly price fall since the index began in 1995. Three consecutive quarters of price falls mean annual growth is now negative, at minus 2.8 per cent. Cottages were worst hit, losing 5.7 per cent of their value while prices for manor houses fell by 1.9 per cent. Knight Frank's head of country department, Rupert Sweeting, said, "The bright spot is farm and land sales. There is no sign of demand slackening and rural land prices continue to increase dramatically."

Trusting in teak