FIVE clients make this Daily Telegraph piece

So thrilled to see FIVE clients and a case study in this piece today in the Daily Telegraph.

In no particular order…

#1 My house selling weather forecast client PropCast Gavin Brazg - which identifies the percentage of for sale properties that are under offer - found the hottest postcode districts in Cornwall are Camborne, Penryn, Redruth, Torpoint and Falmouth at 45-50pc meaning buyer demand is strong – whereas in contrast, second home hotspots, in Marazion, Padstow, Looe, are “cold” at 7-15% ie, buyer demand has dropped. 

2. Katie Warren of Fixer Management Services - a Cornish holiday-let buying agent and property manager - says a lot of people who jumped onto the holiday let boom after Covid – when the percentage of second homes slightly spiked – are now trying to get out of it because year-round rental income isn’t assured in spots like Rock, Padstow and Polzeath…. These buyers didn’t really understand the lettings market, and now, faced with higher mortgage rates, steeper maintenance costs and extra taxation, they are certainly not ‘living the Cornish dream’. But she says some people are still buying to let – namely in Falmouth, where demand is less seasonal than elsewhere in the county, catering to tourists as well as dock workers, and Penzance, which is undergoing extensive regeneration. In the former, she has a client who has just exchanged on a one-bedroom property for £230,000. 

3. Keeping on the subject of Cornwall, buying agent Joanna Ireland of Relocate to Cornwall is helping clients move full-time, not buy second homes. She told the Telegraph that people still want to move there for remote working and a better quality of life, Now there’s less competition from second homeowners and investors.

4. Whilst Claire Whisker of First In The Door - a property advisor platform that matches homebuyers with buying agents - said the atrocious weather this spring and summer has not helped holiday bookings and the second homes market. First-time buyers, on the other hand, feel that rate cuts are due and this may lead to prices recovering so they don’t want to wait. 

5. Then Jamie Jamieson who appointed me just last week and is a Norfolk/Suffolk buying agent agrees agrees that the second home market is “struggling”. But he does have four people looking with budgets of £1m to £5m. Now a second home buy has to be really justified – such as one that will become a retirement home in a few years.

Read the full article here (paywall)