We all like to be beside the seaside these days, and home prices around Britain’s coastline have been soaring as a result.
From Cornwall to Scotland, Wales to Yorkshire, coastal towns are outperforming other areas; a Bank of Scotland survey in May revealed that more than 95% of coastal towns have been beating average increases across the rest of the country.
Prices are being driven up by second-homers, retirees and families in search of large Victorian and Edwardian homes at prices lower than those inside the M25.
“Some of the fastest movers in the price leagues have been coastal towns boosted by second-home owners,” says Yolande Barnes, head of residential research at Savills estate agency. “People saw what happened in Brighton, where prices have really shot up in the past five years, and started looking around for something similar.”
Some rises have been extraordinary. Between 1995 and 2005, prices in Falmouth, Cornwall, jumped 311.5%, against the UK average of 186%, while the average price of a home in Sandbanks, Dorset, has hit £506,282.
If you haven’t already snapped up your slice of seaside heaven, all this can make for depressing reading. Should you put aside all thought of a coastal property unless you are really cashed up? The answer is no, not necessarily. There are bargains to be had; you just need to buy in “emerging” places, rather than those that have already taken off. This year’s Halifax seaside town review found 14 towns where average house prices were below £100,000, 11 of them in Scotland.
Buying in spots that are more shabby than chichi now doesn’t mean you will be stuck in a backwater forever. Although many seaside communities have had more than their fair share of socioeconomic problems, investment by regional development agencies is making a difference.
“Where there has been successful regeneration, the town, the private sector and the regional development agency have agreed on a viable strategy and all put money in,” says Dr Phyllis Starkey, Labour MP for Milton Keynes South West, who is chairing a Commons select committee examining the problems facing coastal towns.
“Just as Newquay in Cornwall has prospered from its surf and Aldeburgh in Suffolk from its music festival, so others must find their own thing,” she says.
Do some serious research and look at what is planned for the areas that still offer bargains. We have identified what we think are the top six towns with special attractions and oodles of potential. With luck and canny investment, they can hope to see their fortunes turn in the near future.
Torquay, Devon: food
The town that inspired Fawlty Towers has become something of a foodie destination since two of its restaurants were awarded Michelin stars in January. The town centre is unprepossessing but great sea views are to be had from the large Victorian villas on its seven hills. In the 1970s, many of these were divided into cheap holiday flats. Since 1996, house prices have risen 221% (from an average of £51,782 to £166,405). Now unconverted villas fetch up to £1.5m. Most homes above £400,000 sell to out-of-towners, who are either retiring or seeking a better quality of life.
Expect to pay up to £300,000 for a two-bed flat with sea views; a four-bed bungalow with views will cost about £700,000. The market is fairly buoyant and prices are stable. It’s also relatively easy to get to: a five-hour train ride from London Paddington, or a four-hour whizz down the M4 and M5.
Bridlington, East Yorkshire: an old wreck
Residents have been making a huge effort to come up with a unique selling point for this charming but slightly run-down town, 18 miles from Scarborough, and an hour’s drive from the M1. A marina plan was rejected at the 11th hour, and now a revised version is in the pipeline. Meanwhile, a new business centre has been a great success in a town with twice the national average of self- employed.
Penelope Weston is a relative newcomer who was attracted by the architecture and the prices. “In 2001, my husband and I were thinking of moving to York when we saw in the newspaper this big Grade II*-listed house, with walled garden, built in 1673, for £130,000,” she says. “We thought, that’ll do nicely.”
Now she chairs the Old Town Revival Association, which is marketing that area as a quarter for art, antiques, food and specialist shops. “The seafront has been redone and the old town can hardly help but look charming because it’s such a lovely streetscape. Millions of pounds have been spent renovating the Bridlington Spa theatre, but people aren’t rushing to buy here.”
Reeds Rains estate agency has three Georgian townhouses in the old town on its books, ranging in price from £249,950 to £475,000 for a four-bedroom house with an annexe. It says prices for two-bed flats start at £80,000, rising to about £180,000 for sea views and a garden. Travelling by train to get there is easy, though you will need to change trains at Doncaster, Sheffield or York.
Seaham, County Durham: development potential
This former coal-mining town was left in desperate straits 20 years ago when its three pits closed. The only other feature was its beach — and that was black with spoil from the mines and unusable. Now, thanks to massive injections of government and European Union cash, Seaham is a town reborn, with a 12-mile stretch of heritage-status coastline and with few of the development restrictions other towns face.
Warehouses have been moved from the dock area and new houses built on a former colliery site, where two-bed semis fetch about £100,000 and four-bed executive homes with sea views sell for £300,000. A new shopping centre is planned.
The Halifax seaside town review says prices leapt 172% in three years, outperforming everywhere else in England and Wales; in the past 10 years, average prices have risen 297% (from £34,815 to £138,047). Though prices appear to have stabilised, there is no longer any need to lure in private investment. “We are fighting them off,” says Emma Coates, of the District of Easington council. “We’re lucky to be in a semi- rural location with big brownfield sites.” Driving to Seaham, 20 minutes from Durham, an hour and a half from York, is probably the easiest way to get there. The local bus and train services are infrequent.()
Folkestone, Kent: high-speed trains
When Roger De Haan, founder of Saga, the holiday and insurance company for the over-fifties, retired in 2004, he sold the business and turned his attention to his home town, which had been abandoned by traditional seaside visitors and was slowly dying.
He set up the Creative Foundation to buy run-down properties — of which there was no shortage — in the old town. The plan was to renovate them to a high standard and let them to artists at lower-than-commercial rents; the vibrant atmosphere would in turn attract businesses and further investment. To prevent artists from being priced out, they would be given long leases.
The foundation has spent £26m buying and renovating 45 properties, and the continuing operation will be funded increasingly by rental income. The aim is to have 100 properties and 800-900 tenants by 2010.
De Haan, who still works 50- 60-hour weeks in “retirement”, has also sponsored the first phase of a new university centre and commissioned Foster and Partners to come up with a master plan for the massive harbour site, which will include a new marina, a fast cross-Channel ferry, university campus, pier and skateboard park.
For all that, Chris Moseley, of Ward & Partners estate agency, says the one thing that has truly affected property prices is the planned high-speed rail link. “In 2009 we will be 57 minutes from London St Pancras,” he says.
Prices have shot up. “A two-bed terraced house that two years ago would have cost £46,000-£50,000 would now cost £125,000-£130,000,” he says. Since 1996, average house prices have risen 190% (from £58,318 to £169,295). Four-bed family houses have gone up from about £150,000 to £195,000-£250,000.
Hastings, East Sussex: legislation
Hastings has had a hard time of it for decades, despite its Georgian architecture and pleasant surroundings. First the holidaymakers it traditionally depended on headed for the Costas, then it had an influx of benefit claimants and asylum-seekers. The slow train service hasn’t helped — London is a ponderous 90 minutes away. However, it’s not all bad news: a high-speed link to Ashford International was introduced in December, which takes just 40 minutes, so getting to the continent is a breeze — and that’s going to attract lifestylers.
Now, there’s a revival afoot.Millions of pounds of government aid have been invested in new roads, street wardens, industrial estates and educational centres. One problem remained: a general shabbiness caused by landlords refusing to spend on maintenance. Speculators had been buying property unseen at auction and leaving it to rot. At one point, more than 30 seafront buildings had boarded-up windows and peeling paint.
So the council invoked a little-used piece of legislation: section 215 of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act. This says that if any building is harming local amenities, including the appearance of a neighbourhood, the owners can be forced to carry out repairs.
It has been a remarkable success. Many owners threatened with an enforcement notice simply sell up and move on, but new buyers know the score and are happy to comply. There isn’t a derelict building left on the seafront, and prices now reflect this.
“Hastings borough council holds the current record for the highest number of notices served in one day,” says Marc Heuclin, of John Bray & Sons estate agency. “And the results have been nothing but positive.”
Two-bed flats with sea views start at £100,000, but you can spend twice that on something special. A spacious Grade II-listed four-bed Georgian townhouse will cost about £400,000. Prices have tripled in the past decade but stabilised in the past year. “We are seeing a creeping increase,” says Heuclin. “Maybe 6%-8%.”
Cardigan, west Wales: art
This sleepy market town, on the tidal estuary of the River Teifi, is a five-hour drive from London, and the nearest station is Carmarthen, about an hour’s drive away, so incomers tend to be lifestylers, not weekenders.
Now it and five other towns have been chosen to receive a specially commissioned piece of public art as part of Channel 4’s Big Art Project. “This is important for the town,” says local developer James Lynch, of Teifi Quayside. “And it’s symptomatic of a new, open attitude towards change.”
There’s a lot going on. The Prince’s Regeneration Trust is helping to find a sustainable new use for Cardigan Castle, and Prince Charles himself visited last month. European Union money has paid for the restoration of its quayside; and £7m has been spent on the town’s theatre, which now has an arts centre with cinema screens and a cafe-restaurant. Lynch himself plans a boutique hotel, restaurants and an outdoor activity centre in the former port area, while to the north of the town large shopping and housing developments are planned.
Nick Rees, of Fred Rees & Son estate agency, says public funding has made an enormous difference. “Many millions have been spent very tastefully on the heritage area round the castle, and it all looks a great deal smarter than it was.” For the past 10 years, property prices just ticked over, Rees says. “Then, in the past two years, they have gone up in leaps and bounds.” A two-bed terraced cottage that would have cost £30,000-£40,000 two years ago would now fetch up to £100,000; a four-bed townhouse might cost about £300,000.
Fred Rees & Son, Cardigan, 01239 612 464, www.fred-rees-and-son.co.uk
On the market
Torquay: This Grade II-listed five-bed Regency villa is for sale with John Couch (01803 296 500, www.johncouch.co.uk) for £895,000
Bridlington: On the coast, this three-bedroom house is on the market for £359,950 with Reeds Rains, 01262 676 273, www.reedrains.co.uk
Seaham: A four-bedroom terraced house is for sale for £229,950 with Kimmitt and Roberts, 0191 581 3213, www.kimmittandroberts.com
Cardigan: A three-bed cottage in St Dogmaels on the River Teifi is for sale for £136,000. JJ Morris, 01239 612 343, www.jjmorris.com
Hastings: A four-bedroom 18th-century townhouse is for sale for £390,000 with John Bray and Sons, 01424 421 544, www.johnbrayea.co.uk
