PRICES in the property market in Kent are static, according to a bi-annual report by estate agents Strutt & Parker.

The market flattened out through the second half of the year but the market remains level, with high demand for the most desirable homes.

House prices in the county have neither risen nor fallen over the past six months, but 25 per cent of the properties handled by Strutt & Parker’s Canterbury office have sold above the asking price. East Kent remains very good value, with prices significantly lower than most other areas of the South East.

Simon Backhouse, of the firm’s Canterbury office, said: “Locally, a two or three-bedroom house in one of the more attractive Kent villages is worth an average of £275,000. A five-bedroom family house set in two acres would cost in the region of £545,000, while a substantial nine-bedroom home with between 15 and 20 acres will cost around £1,200,000.

“Vendors often have inflated expectations of what their homes might fetch, but greater realism has been seen in the last six months and vendors are now looking for realistic prices in most cases.”

“Pricing a property correctly remains the key to a quick sale. At the moment a home takes an average of 90 days from going onto the market to exchange of contracts and then another 28 days to reach completion.”

The most popular homes are still period properties, particularly farmhouses with character set in two or three acres on the edge of popular villages.

Land is as important as ever for a rural property and for a four or five-bedroom family house. one acre can add £20,000. Ten acres will increase the value by £50,000, and 50 acres by £100,000.

Around a third of all the properties sold by Strutt & Parker since last summer were bought by people moving down from London, with the remainder being made up of local people moving within the area.

Mr Backhouse said: “In this part of the world at least, prices are currently flat but the property market can best be described as stable.”