Despite UK prime country house prices rising for the fifth straight quarter, buyers are still increasingly attracted to homes located in urban rather than rural settings, with local town and city markets outperforming more rural counterparts, according to research from estate agents Knight Frank.

Despite UK prime country house prices rising for the fifth straight quarter, buyers are still increasingly attracted to homes located in urban rather than rural settings, with local town and city markets outperforming their more rural counterparts, according to research from estate agents Knight Frank.

In the first three months of 2014, prime country house prices increased by 1.9 per cent, the strongest quarterly growth in four years.

Meanwhile, in the year to March 2014, prime country house prices rose by 4.5 per cent, indicating that the prime country market has begun to reap the rewards of the wider property market recovery in the UK, where prices have risen by 9.4 per cent annually, according to Nationwide.

However, Knight Frank's data shows that price growth is far from even across the market, with buyers increasingly attracted to homes located in urban rather than rural settings.

In the prime urban market, property prices increased by 3.4 per cent in the first quarter and rose by an average of 8.2 per cent over the year to March 2014, reflected in recent price growth in Sevenoaks, Winchester, Bristol, Bath and Oxford.

This contrasts with price growth for rural properties, which increased by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 and have risen by 4.1 per cent on an annual basis.

The data found that the outperformance of prime urban markets is even more evident on a longer-term basis, with properties on average 2.8 per cent below their previous 2007 peak, compared to 16 per cent for rural properties.

“The continued growth of popularity in towns/cities follows the demands of London buyers looking for a quieter lifestyle with excellent education and good communications to London but coupled with cosmopolitan characteristics such as fine restaurants et al. In effect, a similar neighbourhood to that which they experience in London’s borough like Chelsea, Wandsworth and Fulham,” said Rupert Sweeting, head of Knight Frank Country.

Demand for prime country property remains strong, with the number of new applicants who registered their interest in buying a prime country house over the first quarter up by 10 per cent compared to the same period last year and viewings up 16 per cent.

This increased demand led to a rise in the number of prime country house sales across the market in the three months to March, which were 21 per cent higher compared to the same time last year.