Want to buy an eco-home? Click here to see which counties are leading the way in green housing

A north-south divide afflicts the UK property market in more ways than one. Eco home improvements are proving slowest to catch on in the parts of the North where prices started to fall first and are now falling fastest. The allure of the solar panel, wind turbine or rainwater harvesting system has been most keenly felt in the South East and South West, according to a survey of UK properties for sale by the property search engine Globrix. If you fancy one of the 755 UK homes being marketed as having one or more eco-features, you could find 53 in Kent and 52 in Devon. The survey by Globrix, which is part-owned by News International, parent company of The Times, unearthed a further 42 in Hampshire, 36 in Surrey and 34 in Somerset.

The properties for sale include a detached five-bed home on a private island at Sunbury-on-Thames, with solar panels and a private mooring, for £790,000 (Waters Edge Homes, 01932 240202) and a rare site in Dartmoor with planning permission for a spacious thatched eco-home (Knight Frank, 01392 423111). Those with £1.25 million can have a Huf Haus with five-bedrooms and four reception rooms in mature woodland in Chilworth, Southampton (023-8022 8822). The faster adoption of eco features - or at least their deployment by savvy estate agents - might have an economic basis. Homeowners in the South East and South West enjoyed rising house prices until much more recently and have more of an equity buffer to fund pricey extras. Expect more such homes to spring up in the South West, which Knight Frank this week tipped as best-placed to withstand the market turbulence.

Homes with environmentally friendly features seem in short supply in the North and Midlands, where property prices first showed weakness a year ago. Yet Scotland, where house prices have shot up and are still rising, according to Nationwide, has yet to see a flurry of eco-building: languishing at the bottom of the league for such homes are Berwickshire, Inverness-shire, Midlothian, Perthshire and West Lothian.

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Most agents report, however, that eco-features remain a luxury for most buyers, wherever the location. James Scott-Lee, chairman of the 50-branch estate agency Chancellors, says: “I am yet to come across one who has come back to say they are unhappy with the energy performance certificate for a property, or that they want a lump of money off because they are going to have to install solar panels.” Owners seem nervous of home improvements for which they may not be able to recoup the cost. Neil Chegwidden, head of residential research at Jones Lang Lasalle, says: “In a weaker market, buyers, particularly at the bottom end, are just looking for value for money.”

This week Rightmove reported that asking prices have slipped 0.1 per cent in a month. But economic wobbles and rising living costs may eventually help to turn eco-gadgets into household essentials. As Scott-Lee says: “The only technology that really adds up financially is insulation, though - as fuel prices rise - more and more features may become viable.”

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