Picturesque village where house prices are being slashed by £100K because of tax rises
Residents are being forced to try and sell their homes at knock down prices thanks to new tax rates for second homes.
Homeowners in a beautiful UK village that is popular with second home owners are being forced to reduce their sale price due to tax prices. The demand for properties in the area has plummeted with one resident saying she has had knock £100,000 off her asking price to try and sell.
Golant in Cornwall, close to Fowey where Gordon Ramsay and Dawn French have owned homes, is located on the River Fowey and has a beautiful expanse of beach at low tide, which has attracted second home owners to the area. But the demand for properties has dropped since the government introduced a tax blitz on these homes.
From April 1, 2025 English councils are able to charge a council tax premium on second homes. That decision lies with the council.
Debbie Pugh-Jones, 69, has been forced to lower the asking price of her home three times in 10 months but could not find a buyer. It is now on the market for £100,000 less than she first advertised it at. She believes buyers have been scared off by Cornwall Council's decision to double tax rates on second homes which is expected to raise £24 million this year, reports the Express.
As reported by The Sun, homes in the area sold for up to £425,000 during the Covid -19 pandemic. With this in mind, Debbie listed her home for £400,000 last August but soon realised her two-bed home was now the same price as a small flat in a run-down area of some cities,
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The 69-year-old said buyers have also been put off by increased stamp duty.
Residents in tourist hotspots such as Cornwall claim they can no longer afford homes where they grew up as wealthy people from outside snap them up. However, they only stay in the properties when they fancy a get-away from the city.
However, local businesses say the revenue brought in from second homeowners is crucual for their survival. They also rely heavily on tourism during the busy summer months.
Debbie said: "When you come down that much in price you would expect to get a viewing but I've had three in nearly a year. Nobody at all looked around between November and April.
"Double council tax won't affect the very wealthy but it will affect the middle class people wanting to buy a second home. The community is at risk of changing because some of the second home buyers in this village aren't happy to be paying double council tax.
"Around half of the houses in this village are second homes and the rest are retired people, there are very few people working in this village. It's making them struggle but even if they wanted to sell they wouldn't be able to."
She added: "People living here used to work in farms and on the boats but all those industries are gone and the village doesn't have a school, it's not near a bus route and it doesn't have any amenities. I'm not depriving a first time buyer of a place to live because it's not the sort of house that would suit them."
Debbie bought her Cornwall home for £240,000 in 2013 but moved to Bath following the death of her mother last year. She said she spent a total of £30,000 on renovations during her stay.
She said: "It had always been my dream to retire to the coast. It was the view that attracted me, the river view is nicer than the sea view because it is always changing. I paid a premium for it because I paid for the views but straight away I fell in love with it."
Nick Budd, landlord of the village pub, The Fisherman's Arms, said second homes are a fact of life in Golant. He said: "It's a hard one because not all second home owners are the same. You have the holiday lets which are great for us, because when people come on holiday they want to eat out and drink in the pub.
"Then you have the lock up and leave its and they are the ones that kill us. The overwhelming outcome of property price rises is young people cannot afford to buy a house in the village and that situation needs addressing."
It was reported that almost 9,500 properties in Cornwall were used as second homes last year. However, the demand for them "fell off a cliff" after the tourist tax introduction on April 1.
Bradley Start, from Start & Co estate agents in Newquay, said: "They've received these demands for twice as much council tax and that's prompted a lot of people to think about selling.'
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