Everyone is Westward ho

David Spittles5 April 2012
The Weekender

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It's everyone's dream to escape from time to time to a pretty Devon village, to sit in the garden of a pastel-coloured cottage, overlooking a dreamy estuary, watching sailing boats glide silently out to sea.

For decades the region has been a second-home hotspot but today an astonishing exodus is taking place: Londoners are moving to live in the West Country in droves. They are being drawn by the sea air, the good state and private schools and the less frantic way of life. But most of all they are responding to much better transport links, including the recently launched cheap flights by Ryanair between London and Newquay.

Strutt and Parker's Exeter office reports that three out of four buyers are now from the capital and the Home Counties. "They are either those relocating to live down here or they spend half their time here, working via computer links, making business trips to the capital when necessary," it says.

More people are moving to settle in Devon than any other county in the UK. Company moves, such at the Meteorological Office's move from Bracknell to Exeter, and high-profile tourist attractions such as the Eden Project are also boosting the local property market.

Chocolate-box cottages and Georgian rectories are still highly sought after. But with the influx of Londoners has come a strong demand for new homes. "There are far fewer 'old school' buyers than in the past," says James Gibbs, who heads a recently formed new homes division for Strutt and Parker.

"Buyers tend to be younger and they are much more style driven." There isn't a lavish supply of new homes because of strict development controls. Moreover, planners remain quite conservative about architectural innovation.

However, trendy warehouse developments are emerging on the waterfront in Devon and Cornwall, while inland, stately homes and hotels are being converted into plush apartments.

Estate agents say price rises are certainly being fuelled by affluent Londoners. The first £1 million flat is soon to arrive - part of a waterside development of 34 flats in Dartmouth.

In Exmouth, too, the old docks are being regenerated and new apartment schemes going up. At one development called Exmouth Quay, some homes are selling for £500 a sq ft. This is about the same as values in Clerkenwell.

Truro is another hotspot. The town-centre branch of Miller Countrywide recently put a period farmhouse in one-andahalf acres overlooking the sea, on the market for £550,000. It went under offer in a week for £100,000 more.

Prices remain much cheaper in Cornwall but north Cornish estate agent Cole, Rayment and White says homes in prestigious Rock are being pushed up in price by unprecedented demand, with no properties left at under £150,000. Elsewhere in the West Country, agents selling single plots with development potential are targeting London buyers. On the edge of Salisbury, Strutt and Parker is selling a plot that overlooks the rivers Avon and Nadder with views of the nearby cathedral.

"We believe it will appeal to someone who wants to build a one- off architect- designed house," says the firm's Philip Palmer. "At the moment there are two hideous Sixties flats there. We are confident planners will allow for a new detached house."

Offers over £500,000 are invited. Salisbury to Waterloo is an 85-minute rail commute. There are some 200 season tickets holders who commute to London.

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