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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Gran knocks £100k off price of Cornish home and STILL can't sell
A homeowner in Cornwall can't sell her 'dream' holiday cottage despite discounting it by £100,000 - thanks to the double tax whammy hitting second home buyers. Debbie Pugh-Jones has lived in Golant near Fowey for 11 years but wants to sell up and move to Bath to be near her grandchildren. The two-bedroom house was worth an estimated £425,000 during Covid but the 69-year-old gran put it on the market last August at £400,000 hoping for a quick sale. The property was valued at £425,000 during Covid (Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones / SWNS) But there has been little interest and the price has gradually been reduced to £325,00 - a 25 per cent reduction - without success. Debbie, a travel writer, says the property market in Cornwall has been decimated by the rise in stamp duty on second homes and a doubling of council tax. She says the community is in danger of becoming a 'ghost town' because of unsold properties that are lying empty. Views across the river (Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones / SWNS) ''People are putting their houses on the market and just can't sell them - the houses are lying empty," she said. 'It's not good for the local economy. Second home owners bring a lot to the economy. ''When they rent out and people come here on holiday, they spend more and eat out more than people who are here permanently. Debbie Pugh-Jones' at her property in Golant (Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones / SWNS) 'I know somebody whose council tax has gone up to £6,000 a year, he wants to sell up because he can't afford that extra tax. 'You're going to end up with a ghost town. The locals try their very best to keep the pub going, especially in the winter, but the pub makes its money in the summer when the tourists come down. ''If that's discouraged, that's going to have an impact on the local economy.' She says she can't leave Cornwall because rising tax and stamp duty on second homes making it impossible for her to sell (Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones / SWNS) Stamp duty on second homes in England rose from three per cent to five per cent in October last year and Cornwall Council introduced 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes in April. Debbie said: 'I put my cottage on the market in August with the aim of moving to the Bath area because my son has a daughter, and I was missing out on her growing up. 'I'm expecting another grandchild now, another girl, and I'm really desperate to move. ''A few years ago I probably would have rented this place out and got another mortgage, but it's the extra stamp duty that's just prohibiting me from doing that now. 'I did think maybe I could buy something in Bath as a second home and get a mortgage. ''But even a house for £400,000 I'll be paying £20,000 stamp duty. It just makes it not viable.' IN PICTURES: A peek inside two of Cornwall's quirkiest homes currently for sale Remaining residents fight to buy pub in village at risk of being 'hollowed out' Cornwall spot that 'isn't your average garden' among best to visit in the UK Her property has now been on the market for nine months with six different estate agents. She said: 'Originally the house went on at £400,000 but it didn't get any interest at all. ''I changed agent, still no interest, no viewings. I went through two more agents, then to a company which said they would try to market to investors. 'I came down in price to £365,000 but still nothing happened. So I decided to put it back on the market with another local agent, she got one viewing for a potential investor but he wasn't interested. 'Another new agent with a shopfront – we're down to £350,000 now –I had viewings from two potential second home owners. Outside the property in Golant (Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones / SWNS) 'A new agent in April said, you know, just forget what happened in the past, we're starting new today. Still not had any viewings and I brought it down to £325,000 last Friday. 'The extra council tax that's been put on definitely hasn't helped the situation, and neither has the extra stamp duty on second homes." The property was a second home before Debbie bought it for £240,000 as her main home 11 years ago and spent £30,000 on renovations. 'Around half of homes in this village are second homes," she explained. "But unlike many places where they're anti second home owners, in this village here we appreciate second home owners. Debbie at her property in Golant (Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones / SWNS) 'The average age here is over 60, it's where people retire and have second homes. There's not a school in walking distance, there's not public transport. 'This sort of policy saying second homes could be suitable for first time buyers, just doesn't add up here. ''Say the average price of a house in this village is probably around £750,000, £800,000–one's gone on the market at £1.9 million. 'I can't really afford to reduce the price anymore given the house prices in the area I want to go to. ''If you take into account how much I bought it for, how much I've spent on it, plus inflation, I'm just going to be well out of pocket on it." Homes that are left empty, defined as unoccupied and substantially unfurnished, for more than a year are also subject to 100 per cent council tax in a move introduced by the government in 2018 to discourage homeowners from leaving property vacant. Buyers who take on an empty property which is already subject to this tax take on the premium. Debbie added: "Second homeowners are feeling very hard done by because, not only are they paying double council tax, they're not using very many of the facilities council tax is supposed to pay for. ''They're paying for bins, roads, and education, and what are they actually getting from the £6000 they're giving Cornwall Council when they're not here all year round? 'Second homeowners are being made to feel almost evil, which is so wrong because they really do contribute to our village.' 'The odd one will get sold but there's quite a few houses in this village that are just sitting empty. ''There's one on my road, the lady died and that's been on the market since last year, that's been reduced from £700,000 into the £600,000s. 'The road below me, there's a house that's been on the market there for maybe two years. It's a problem. These homes are empty now.'
Telegraph
14-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Slashed prices and desperate sellers: inside Cornwall's flooded second homes market
For the past 11 years, Debbie Pugh-Jones has owned Napier Cottage, a two-bedroom property overlooking a river in the quiet village of Golant near Fowey in Cornwall. 'It was a dream of mine to go and live by the coast, and when I found this cottage, I thought it was perfect,' she says. Lying at the mouth of a deep estuary, close to the open sea, Fowey is a pretty harbour town with narrow streets winding through the town near the water's edge. Counted among some of the Cornish coastline's hotspots, it's long been popular with wealthy second home owners; in the past, this kind of property would have been snapped up. Keen to move nearer to her son in Bath, Pugh-Jones put Napier Cottage on the market last August for £425,000. There were no bites. Since that time, the asking price has been reduced first to £375,000 and now to £350,000. Still, no one has come forward to buy it. 'During Covid, I could have sold it for £440,000. I'm now on my fourth estate agent and, since August, I've only had three viewings and no offers.' She lives in the house full-time, but it would make a perfect holiday home – and therein lies the problem. 'The trouble is that there are just no buyers,' she adds. 'First, there was the general election, then the Budget in the autumn and now all the increased taxes. It's not an expensive house, but the wind is blowing in the wrong direction for second home owners. When I speak to others in the village, a number are thinking of selling up.' Cornwall is sometimes called the 'second home capital of England'. In Poluran, a village close to Pugh-Jones's home, more than half of houses are second homes or holiday rentals, according to research last year from the Lanteglos by Fowey parish council. The attack on second home ownership has come thick and fast in recent months. In last year's Budget, buyers of second homes were hit with a 5pc stamp duty surcharge, up from 3pc. In addition, the furnished holiday lettings tax regime, which gave tax breaks to landlords who rented out fully furnished properties, was removed this year. This means that those properties which once attracted 10pc capital gains tax now meet the standard CGT rate for residential property, currently 24pc. Finally, and perhaps most punitive, Cornwall council (like others) now makes second home owners pay double council tax, a move that was also introduced in April. (There is a 12-month exemption for those actively marketed for sale or let, which some experts have suggested is a loophole that homeowners are using to avoid the tax rise.) 'Flooded market' Justin Knight is a senior valuer at The Property Shop, the estate agency in Fowey that is marketing Napier Cottage. It has two other offices in mid-Cornwall: Bodmin and Lostwithiel. While those two are operating in a normal market – that is, neither location is dominated by holiday homes – it is in Fowey where properties are not selling. The same is true in two other holiday home favourites: St Ives and Carbis Bay, says Vicky Jones, of estate agent Keller Williams. She describes a 'marked increase' in the number of second homes and holiday properties coming to the market. Kevin James, of Bradleys estate agents, says supply is up 22pc since May 2024. He believes that Cornwall's property market is entering a new phase as tax reforms 'begin to reshape the second home landscape'. Many agree. 'Fowey is a pretty sailing town, not a working fishing port which functions throughout the year, and the impact has been noticeable since the measures were announced last year,' says Knight. 'People who paid 'Covid prices', when the rush from towns and cities that saw prices here leap in some cases by up to 20pc, are reluctant or can't afford to sell at today's values. And now that the market is flooded with houses for sale, there's a double knock-on impact.' Figures from Rightmove show that properties in Fowey take five more days to sell this year compared to 2024, and that prices have slipped 1.5pc in the last year. Truro-based estate agent Ian Lillicrap of Lillicrap Chilcott keeps a keen eye on second home hotspots both within and beyond his patch, including the Cotswolds. 'The market is flooded in all the obvious areas. It's clear that many who bought properties to rent as holiday homes took out mortgages when rates were low and when they could offset the costs against returns.' Interest rates since then have of course risen, and now they face lower demand and much higher costs. 'They've had a culture shock and a rude awakening.' 'Fabulous bargains' This fall in demand has mainly hit the middle of the market; those at the top end can afford to wait it out – and pay the increased council tax. Jonathan Cunliffe, who runs his own agency, says at the top end of the market it's back to normal after the frenzy of the pandemic. 'There aren't many owners who need to sell at any cost. Most will wait until the market recovers, so it's difficult to see a complete collapse in prices.' James says that while those who relied on tax efficiencies to make ownership viable are selling up, those prepared to weather 'short-term policy headwinds' will continue to invest. It is properties valued between £250,000 and £700,000 that have seen the highest drop in enquiries, says Philip Norgan of Smart Estate Agent in Penryn. Some clients are adjusting their prices, but others are holding firm 'because they can't afford to go as low as necessary'. Lillicrap says there was a flurry of properties looking to exchange before the changes came in at the end of March, with a particular keenness from those in 'old money' areas such as Rock in north Cornwall. Some of these owners have had the house in the family since the 1960s and have seen a huge gain in value in the intervening years. A house that was worth tens of thousands might now be several million, attracting a significant tax bill in its wake. Figures from Lillicrap Chilcott paint a picture of how the market has shifted. Of the last 60-odd properties sold since early April, 66pc have been to local buyers moving within Cornwall. In 2022, that figure was 50pc. Second home buyers have dropped from 25pc in 2022 to just 14pc. 'As I see it, those buying a second home with their head rather than heart will find it a lot less attractive than it was 18 months ago,' says Lillicrap. For those with the means to buy, vendors are ready to sell. Lillicrap has just taken on a two-bedroom apartment by the marina in Port Pendennis in Falmouth. 'The owner said that only a few weeks ago she would have asked £600,000, but as she's in tune with what's happened across the nation, she's putting it on the market for £499,950,' he says. 'There are some fabulous bargains to be had,' adds Clare Coode, of buying agent Stacks Property Search. 'Canny agents are aware of this, and I have never seen more off-market opportunities than I have this spring.' At the top end of the market, buyers are enjoying what Josephine Ashby of John Bray Estates calls 'a rare abundance of choice and a selection of property that may not reappear on the market for generations' as owners reduce prices. And people are still buying, such as those who snapped up an off-market clifftop property in Polzeath on the first viewing.
