Markets are always changing. I was once told by a very successful and experienced investor that all markets are actually driven by sentiment (as opposed to fundamentals), which drives prices up or down, as it strengthens or weakens and greed changes to fear. So what is happening 'at the coal face' of the prime Cornish property market right now - and crucially what could that mean for both sellers and buyers?
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In the last 15 years years the UK property market has suffered turbulence from the global financial crisis, Brexit and of course the Coronavirus 19 pandemic.
Variety is the spice of life so they say.
Well Cornwall's market is unique and I am pretty sure there is no other county in the UK where there are so many hugely different types of property, in so many contrasting locations.
Help-to-Buy was introduced in 2013 by then Chancellor George Osborne. It was aimed at helping first and second time buyers get on the 'housing ladder', and also to help the UK construction industry following the financial crisis (which of course was also caused by the collapse in another property market across the pond!).
Every so often in Cornwall, second home owners are portrayed as Dr.Evil. But is it really as simple as this? After all, many second home owners were born and brought up in Cornwall, but forced to leave the county to go to university and/or to find work. Having worked hard and been successful, although their work prevents them from moving back to Cornwall full-time, they find themselves in a position to be able to afford a (second) home in the place of birth, so that their children can also know Cornwall and spend some time growing up here. Is that really criminal?
For at least a decade now, we have heard much from government and house-builders about the shortage of housing. But is there really a shortage of housing? Certainly there is a shortage of housing that is actually affordable to most first time (and second/third/fourth time) buyers, but that is surely a different matter.
