Sales

Tempting buyers with the promise of fresh air, a slower pace of life and bags and bags of space, country property exhibitions are definitely the flavour of the month this April.

We thought £50m in a day was pretty tasty, but Strutt & Parker has now upped the amount in offers generated by last Saturday's Open House Day - to a mammoth £78m.

George Osborne's plan to get the housing market moving seems to actually be working.

Saturday's perfect viewing conditions tempted buyers out from under their duvets in their droves, according to Strutt & Parker, and it sounds like they brought their chequebooks with them.

Dorset-based agency-to-watch YOUhome (co-run by ex-Hamptons International boss Jeremy Priestley) has beefed up its sales and letting business by acquiring independent firm Wellstead & Wellstead.

The unusually long-tailed winter had a big impact on last month's sales valuations and new instructions, according to Douglas & Gordon, who saw a chunky 30% drop off on last year's numbers.

The best buyer does not always emerge from the sealed bids process, so why are some agents so keen to push the envelope, asks James Bailey... You hear a lot about "sealed bids" in prime central London.

After shifting an impressive 350 units, lakeside property development "Watermark in the Cotswolds", is releasing its final phase of 25 homes.

A quick update on our "Austerity Auction" story from last month;

The Lonres Spring Residential Review reports a real air of optimism blossoming through the prime central market, with a doubling in the number of new instructions unable to stifle a 9% rise in the average…

With the promise of a balmy ten degrees and perfect viewing conditions, over 500 homes have apparently signed up for Strutt & Parker's Open House Day this Saturday (6th April), as the agency's clever annual…

The first uplift in country house prices since 2011 has been recorded by Knight Frank's Prime Country House Index, although values remain roughly around 2004's levels and performance has depended greatly…