Can a farm shop close to your home increase its value?
That’s the question Ben Horne, Head of Country Buying, and Mark Crampton, Southern Home Counties Advisor, provided insight on when they spoke to The Times recently.
The growing popularity of amenities such as luxury farm stores, high-end local butchers and bakeries in idyllic rural spots is undoubtedly tied to the post-Covid rural dream; moving out of the city and shopping locally.
When talking of Malverleys, a new farm shop in the Wessex Downs where a period house close by, set in 15 acres of land, recently sold for £4.5 million, Ben says; “Malverleys delivers the one thing this popular part of the country was lacking.”
Mark explains that whilst farm shops are convenient and appealing, their effect on house prices is not clear cut; “I wouldn’t say a farm shop necessarily influences house prices, rather an affluent area that experiences growth often gives rise to a luxury farm shop as a response.” His favourite is Cowdray farm shop in Midhurst, West Sussex, which has an award-winning café, a butchery and an artisan cheese shop. A nice country farmhouse in Midhurst costs between £2.5 million and £5 million, he says.
While farm shops may not be a primary factor when it comes to finding the perfect house, they have become a feature in marketing materials and property brochures and part of the established vocabulary in an estate agent’s sales pitch with Crampton suggesting that such shops “undoubtedly contribute to [the buyer’s] overall decision.”
Read the full article here.