HOUSE prices shot up by almost 10 per cent in 2021. The average cost of a home in the UK rose to a record £276,091 in December, according to the Halifax.

The 9.8 per cent price hike over the previous 12 months was the highest for 17 years. In cash terms it totted up to an extra £24,000 added to the typical asking price of a house for sale in Britain in 2021.

Meanwhile the research team at Savills have been analysing the factors creating property hotspots in individual counties.

In Bucks there are seven areas where average prices last year exceeded £1m – up from six places in 2020. There are also 56 wards where the average is now above £500,000. The previous tally was 48.

In the million pound-plus bracket this time round are Seer Green, average house price: £1,365,047, Beaconsfield North, average: £1,330,055. Beaconsfield West, average: £1,325,324, Gerrards Cross, average: £1,246,100, Hambleden Valley, average: £1,151,652, Penn and Coleshill, average: £1,132,984 and Chalfont St Peter, average £1,102,031.

Most recent additions to the long list of towns and villages in Bucks where privately owned properties usually sell for half a million are Luffield Abbey, Stewkley, Grendon Underwood and Brill, Great Horwood, Asheridge Vale and Lowndes, Hazlemere South, Tylers Green and Loudwater, Great Brickhill, Newton Longville, Aston Clinton and Stoke Mandeville.

“Family homes in well-connected towns and villages close to a wide range of amenities continue to be in highest demand with a great many buyers still coming from London,” says Nick Pounce, head of sales at Savills in Amersham.

“The real issue is stock. There are still not enough properties to meet demand.

“As a result we are seeing some very competitive bidding. Best-in-class properties are selling for above their guide price.”

He and his counterpart Chris Moorhouse at Savills’ Beaconsfield office say south Bucks or Oxfordshire continue to be a go-to choice for buyers moving out of London for a greener lifestyle. “While the recent burst of house price growth was kick-started by the stamp duty holiday, continued momentum has been fundamentally underpinned by low interest rates and people’s reassessment of [where they want live post lockdown - away from the smoke.]

The agent adds: “After such a strong market last year we know there’s likely to be less urgency at some point in 2022. Since we returned from the Christmas break we have continued to be exceptionally busy. Demand from new buyers is running at more than double normal levels. A lot of sales are agreed in just a matter of days.”

One of the houses on the books at John Nash in Amersham and Hamptons in Beaconsfield is The First Sun House (pictured).

It was built in the 1930s by the eminent architectural partnership Connell & Ward, early exponents of the Modernist Movement. They drew inspiration from the architect whose name is one of the all-time greats in the art world – Le Corbusier.

You can see the sharp outlines of the white rendered futuristic design if you look right in the lower reaches of a road that leads up to Amersham Station from the Old Town.

The interior has been sympathetically updated to make it a trophy home for the here and now rather than a museum piece. Regardless of improvements to amenities, The First Sun House will always be part of the heritage of Amersham Old Town.

Today the rooms are spread over three floors. There are three/four bedrooms depending on whether you’d rather have a study or fourth bedroom, two bath/shower rooms, split level living area, kitchen with sliding doors opening onto the south facing terrace and a proper garden of course, plus a garage and off-road parking.

The First Sun House remains an aristocrat of the centuries-old built environment in England and here’s a rare chance to own it. Price guide: £1,199,000.