Savills describes a country house as “a detached residence, with traditional architecture, probably Georgian or Victorian [that] provides an oasis from the hustle and bustle of daily life, set within private, possibly walled, gardens”.
Nick Maud, of Connells Group, said the mansion tax and the freezing of inheritance tax thresholds had added to cost considerations of prospective buyers of high-value country homes.
He added: “In this more discretionary layer of the market, purchasers are highly sensitive to broader economic and political sentiment.
“The intense, months-long speculation around tax changes in last year’s Budget stoked an atmosphere of caution across prime housing markets, and the more recent conflict in Iran threatens to do the same.
“Desirable rural properties also benefitted hugely from the pandemic-era ‘race for space’. Normalising work patterns and the elevated cost of debt and general living helped to reverse that trend, resulting in these notable price falls.”
