Holiday homes in Cornwall: where to buy seaside retreats with the potential for good rental returns
Cornwall continues to benefit from the staycation trend, as Visit England reports a 10 per cent year on year increase in the numbers who holidayed in the UK in the first quarter of this year.
Concerns over exchange rate fluctuations, port and airport delays and a general desire to stay out of travel trouble should push the figure even higher this summer.
The perfect Cornish property for buyers has sea views, mod cons and is within walking distance of a beach, says Miles Kevin of Chartsedge, specialist coastal and rural holiday homes agents. Potential rental returns are also increasingly important.
North’s atlantic coast
“Since the Brexit result there has been an increase in buyers seeking investment homes in the lower price ranges, who plan to use the property themselves but also earn some rent,” says Kevin. “Our current best seller on the north coast is Bay Retreat four miles from Padstow, which provides a £10,000 annual income for two years.”
This development in St Merryn offers 28 low-maintenance, modern homes based around a shop, pub and tennis courts. The open-plan homes with steel-and-glass balconies have small gardens with timber-decked patios. Prices for the remaining two-bedroom 700sq ft homes start from £149,000 on a 999-year lease.
As a growing foodie destination, Cornwall draws a stylish crowd from London and the South-East to Padstow, home to seafood chef Rick Stein, Watergate Bay with Jamie Oliver’s magnificent Fifteen restaurant, and The Idle Rocks and Tresanton hotels at St Mawes.
South’s quiet coves
Budget-conscious buyers focus on coastal south-east Cornwall. The twin villages of Cawsand and Kingsand at the head of the Rame Peninsula are a 10-minute ferry ride from the centre of Plymouth, yet well off the beaten path.
Visitors come to sail and kayak, and enjoy the two sandy beaches and gentrified pubs and cafés. A tall four-bedroom terrace house with direct sea access in Cawsand is new to the market with MPH for £460,000.
Looe and behold
In 1987 when Anne Hibbert bought a holiday home in East Looe, her husband Brian worked in the City and they had no grandchildren. Now they have 11, aged from five to 28, all of whom learned to swim in their pool overlooking the sea.
“We have a full sea view from our house with our own land in front and Looe Island to the right,” says Anne. “We are totally tucked away, not overlooked. We really value the privacy, especially in high season. We are only 18 miles from Plymouth but we don’t see many holidaymakers. “In Fowey or Salcombe you could probably add another number in front of the value of homes.”
Anne has extended and modernised the four-bedroom house over the years, and has seen changes in Looe. “It is still essentially a fishing village, not a yachtie place, but the quality of new shops, particularly in the past three years, has improved. Once it was just fudge shops but now we have farm shops, excellent butchers, even artisan fish and chip shops.”
The Hibberts are selling Villa Rosa for £1.25 million through Chartsedge (chartsedge.co.uk).