Surging house prices show the Westcountry’s time has come

IT pays to be upbeat if you are in sales. But estate agents, writing in today’s Western Morning News property section, are honestly reflecting a quite extraordinary period for the housing market after a year when – despite lockdown and all sorts of constraints on house viewings – the market remained extremely buoyant and – in some sectors – positively booming.

Past performance is no guarantee of what will happen in the future, as the financial advisers’ small print has it. But the rise and rise of house prices, particularly in rural and coastal locations across the South West, seems set to continue, even if the rate of growth slows a little in the months ahead.

There is, we would suggest, a very good reason for that which reflects on the prospects for the wider Westcountry and its businesses and citizens. The future will increasingly be away from the big cities – particularly the expensive and crowded South East – as the Government’s levelling up agenda, combined with a desire for a better work-life balance, make people reconsider their choices.

The Westcountry, with its natural beauty alongside sophisticated cities and towns, a sensational coastline and ever improving communications, both physical and digital, is in a prime position to benefit from this fundamental change in the way people think about their lives.

When the first coronavirus lockdown of 2020 came into effect the property market, like so many others, went into deep freeze. But when the pressures eased, in summer, it took off like a rocket. This was not only fuelled by pent up demand that had been suppressed for months. It was also a response, by families and individuals up and down the land for a change of pace in their lives, which drew many to consider rural or coastal living.

That is why Stags, among others, saw inquiries in the middle of 2020 up by more than 300% and why – aided by the Chancellor’s stamp duty holiday – sales too have continued, even though restrictions have necessarily had an impact on the market place.

There will be those for whom house price inflation is a continuing curse. We sympathise with them. The Westcountry in particular needs a better balance of property provision to meet all needs, from genuinely affordable first time homes for buyers to a wider choice of rental property that is priced to match the incomes in the region.

But money makes the world go round and in the South West a lot of the wealth is tied up in people’s property. Dramatically reduce the value of someone’s home and they immediately become poorer, especially if they need to sell up and downsize later in life.

Desire for a life in the Westcountry is one driver of property prices, but supply and demand also play a big part. A shortage of property on the market, as many sellers hold off for a real turning point in the pandemic, has reduced availability. As that eases, prices may fall. But the South West has shown – even before the pandemic – that it offers more for people than many other parts of Britain. Coronavirus heightened that view. The Westcountry’s time has most definitely come.