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If the idea of living in a barn conversion appeals then a visit to the new show home at Manor Barns in Twyford is a must. This fascinating collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century barns in this delightful village just outside Winchester, offers an excellent range of homes for most budgets.

The history of these barns is fascinating. Forming part of the courtyard is an old granary on staddle stones, which was traditionally used to store grain and raised off the ground; this has been transformed into a unique detached home. Some of the barns were used for threshing of the grain, others to keep horses and cattle, and also for general storage. Each barn is unique with its own history and all now beautifully restored and imaginatively adapted to provide wonderful character accommodation in this lovely rural location which is within easy reach of amenities.

The luxury interiors are finished in a contemporary style; excellent kitchens with integrated Siemens appliances and induction hobs and stylish bathrooms with Duravit sanitary ware and Hans Grohe taps. These are homes with smart contemporary fittings, whilst retaining the character of the buildings, including lovely exposed timbers on the inside and a lovely variety of external finishes such as brick and flint or timber-clad with feature windows.

Help to Buy is available on this site, subject to terms and conditions, and the selling agent, Hamptons International, will be able to provide further details of this scheme.  The show home, which is a two bedroom mews style cottage, is available at £500,000.

Prices for the range of homes at Manor Barns start from just £395,000, which is a superb entry level for a quality home in this location. Larger three bedroom homes are from £915,000 and £950,000 for a four bedroom family home, rising to £1,650,000 for the incredible Hay Barn, complete with a versatile annexe, set at right angles to the spacious main house which could alternatively be a marvellous party barn, gym or home office.

Further details are available from Hamptons International in Winchester and an appointment to view is essential to appreciate the location, style and finish of these character homes. Call Hamptons on 01962 842030.…

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Strutt & Parker’s first national Open House Day of 2016 held last on the last weekend of February had some of the highest viewing levels since the event began in 2008 and is looking to be one of the most successful Open House Days held in recent years.

696 properties took part across the UK resulting in 1,686 viewings and 74 offers totalling £50.3million thus far (26 accepted so far), with more are still being considered and coming in.  These are outstanding results, especially from the south of England: 

Houses priced between £600,000 and £1,650,000 in amenity-rich locations, both in towns and popular villages, attracted the most attention and generated the greatest buzz.

George Burnand from the Winchester office comments: “We have been very busy in Winchester, with over 50 viewings already on 14 houses. The top performer had 14 visitors, and many were in double figures. This is about twice as busy as the open house day we held last year in June.

George outlines a few highlights of the event:

“A house north of Winchester that had previously been marketed with another agency received five viewings on the day and is now under offer. Two new launches in the city both received double figure viewings and we are carrying out second viewings as a result.”

Successful across the country, other standout offices were Exeter, Norwich, Market Harborough, Chester, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Banbury, Morpeth and Cirencester, all with excellent Open House viewing figures.

George concluded: “Despite stock levels being lower than they have been for some time, buyers were out in force enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and flexibility of being able to view as many homes as they want to, at a time that suits them. The fact that the gap between house prices in London and the rest of the country has been growing for some time means that you can get a lot more value for your money if you look a bit further afield  – commuter belt, home counties and beyond.

“Encouraging news that the tide might be turning for a good spring market after a slow start to the year.”…

Price growth in Winchester’s prime housing market is being driven by the continued demand for properties in key town and city markets with good schools, transport links and amenities.

The key findings of Knight Frank’s latest research show that prime property values in Winchester rose by 3.3% in the final three months of 2015, and by 7.1% on an annual basis

There was a notable increase in the number of Londoners looking to relocate to Winchester, with many such buyers taking advantage of the price differential between property values in London and elsewhere in the country with London buyers accounting for 25% of the market; more than twice that of the previous year.

There are differentials in specific areas of the city which are outpacing others with Hyde proving to be particularly popular; it is thought that the proximity to the station and good schools helped to push this area up by 8.5%. The growth of areas to the south and the east of the city still rose by more than 6%.

Tom Woods, from Knight Frank in Winchester, comments:

“Winchester as a city consistently performs well as a market. Indeed, the figures from this year outperform the country market by some way. This is underpinned by a number of factors, the most important being access to London (an hour by train), excellent schools, both state and private and access to the countryside. As a result the city centre itself has seen major change recently, with a number of excellent shops opening and celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein opening restaurants; his first outside of Cornwall.

“A number of London buyers move to Winchester initially to rent, but then end up staying in the city, making it a perfect stepping stone to a country move. On top of this are downsizers retiring into the city, and constant movers within the city moving up or down the markets.

“In terms of areas, Hyde has seen the most dramatic growth, as well as traditionally strong areas such as St Cross which have a large proportion of family houses with big gardens. St Giles Hill is also popular for people looking for larger family houses. My ‘tip’ as it were would be Fulflood and out to Chilbolton Avenue which is around the station

and with a Waitrose in that area, and Westgate secondary school which performs well. I think this area will continue to go from strength to strength.

“For 2016, we anticipate that the strong performance will continue in the city, driven by a shortage of supply, which was especially noticeable in 2015 and without doubt contributed to the price growth we have seen.”…