Buying agency Prime Purchase – a subsidiary of Savills – has recruited the former head of Humberts’ country house department.

James Grillo is joining to bolster its southern team, covering Hampshire, Berkshire and West Sussex.

Grillo also worked for Lane Fox and that firm’s purchaser, Strutt & Parker, in the past.

Grillo, a chartered surveyor, said: “I am looking forward to using 20-plus years of selling experience for our clients’ benefit.

“It is a very unusual market post-election, with fewer houses than one would expect becoming available.

“No two houses are the same and the ever-increasing amount of information available to the potential purchaser has perversely caused the market to become more complex and opaque.

“Qualifying the value, understanding the local influences and deciphering the market comment has never been tougher.

“The need for a buying agent to create opportunities where there were seemingly none, as well as to drill down on each house and work out its real worth, has never been greater.”