What Next?

What Next?

I write this on a dark January evening, and despite being in a lockdown, I find myself busier than than I can ever remember in the first month of the year.

The government have decreed that the property market should stay open for business, but this is obviously not straightforward. At the very least it certainly feels a little odd that I can show viewers I have never met before around my clients’ houses, but that I can’t visit my own parents!

Many would be forgiven for thinking that Covid and the resultant lockdowns has turned the Cornish property market into a boom market in a matter or weeks. The reality is different of course. The foundations for the prime market in Cornwall we find ourselves in now were set some eighteen months ago.

It is said that markets are driven largely by sentiment, rather than fundamentals, and I can clearly remember sentiment changing the week that Boris Johnson took over from Theresa May. Then the day after the general election, sentiment jumped further, buoyed by a bit more certainty and by the time we got into March, the market was pretty strong, with competitive bidding on several £2m+ sales. Markets hate uncertainty, and for a little while there was some certainty.

Then along came Covid19 and the UK property market paused for breath. I f one then adds pent-up demand to a market that had been improving in sentiment and sales already for over six months, then I suppose it should come as no surprise that we are currently experiencing the busiest market we have seen for many years.

What’s ahead for the property market? Other than speculation, I have absolutely no idea and it is impossible to see round the corner. What we do know is that prime property on the water or in the country are selling a lot faster than they were, at a slightly fuller price and the fall-through rate is a fraction of what it was a few years ago.

What will happen when this lockdown comes to an end? I don’t know. What will happen when the stamp duty holiday comes to an end? Ditto - and so on.

What we do know right now, is that supply is tight, and demand for prime property (especially in Cornwall) is up. Interest rates are low, overseas travel is difficult, and millions of people now have the ability to work from home, perhaps permanently. We may be a long way from seeing hordes of Cornwall residents flocking to buy unloved London properties, but the tide has definitely turned - for now.