David Moulton, residential research manager at Knight Frank, says, 'Whilst consumer confidence was affected by these events, the country house market continued to see buoyant levels of transactions, much of which was driven by the continued imbalance between supply and demand.'

Moulton added that continued fluctuations of the US and UK stock markets was causing concern amongst prospective buyers and is even deterring some people from moving. 'However, the underlying strength of the UK economy, excluding the manufacturing sector, continues to propel the housing market forward,' he says.

Knight Frank is cautiously optimistic about the second half of the year. 'Properties will continue to sell, however, vendors will need to be realistic in their asking price if a quick sale is achieved,' notes Moulton. Property price growth averaging 3% is expected for the remainder of the year with supply levels starting to increase.