$2,287,800 (£1.5 MILLION)
The home, known as Porteath Barn, started life as two Cornish-stone structures dating to 1851, said Alex Roads, a director of John Bray Partners in the nearby town of Rock, one of the listing agents. It was converted to the present configuration in 1995, with 3,195 square feet of living space in an unusual inverted layout that maximizes ocean views from the living and dining areas on the second floor.
Entry is through a central hall on the first floor. The five bedrooms and three baths are set in two wings adjoining the hall. The master suite, open to extensively landscaped gardens, includes a dressing room and a bath with a claw-foot tub. On the second floor, the 41-foot-long living room is across the hall from the kitchen, which has a six-burner Aga stove and a breakfast area. Part of the house has recently been used as a bed-and-breakfast.
Floors throughout are covered in sisal fiber, and original beams have been left exposed. Heat is provided by an oil furnace.
The secluded five-acre property is set in a valley that opens to the sea and adjoins protected National Trust land at the shoreline, which is reachable by footpath. The property has several ponds, and planning approval is in place for a guesthouse.
Porteath Barn is about 2 miles from Polzeath and 3.5 from Rock, a picturesque town on the sandy Camel River estuary with shopping and dining options that include a Michelin-starred restaurant. From Rock, passenger ferries cross the estuary to the harbor town of Padstow, another culinary and tourism hot spot. Wadebridge, which also has shopping and amenities, is 5.8 miles away.
Most visitors drive from London, about five hours away in typically heavy traffic; Bristol is three hours. The nearest rail station, Bodmin Parkway, is 16 miles away. Some visitors to the area fly into the Newquay airport, about 35 minutes by car from the house.
MARKET OVERVIEW
As with many markets around the world, prices in Cornwall soared from 2000 to 2007, up to 15 percent a year, Mr. Roads said. But in 2008, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, “the market just shut down.”
Properties began selling again in 2010, he said, though prices have increased very little since then, if at all, and the market is currently about 15 percent below the 2007 prices.
Ben Standen, the director of the Truro office of Jackson-Stops realty, said, “If you look at 2000 to 2007, it was just that bubble that went absolutely crazy.”
This year “has been the best year since 2007, without a shadow of a doubt,” he added. “There’s been a lot more people buying. There’s not enough property on the market, and what we’ve got seems to be selling.”
Jonathan Cunliffe, the residential director of the Truro office of Savills realty, which is co-listing the property, said he had seen more inquiries this year, “but in terms of actual sales, it’s still very, very fraught.”
And while bonuses for bankers, which once fueled the Cornwall market, have taken a hit in the global and European financial crises, the reduced amount of bonus cash has brought coastal property prices down to a more sustainable level, real estate agents said.
“The one thing we’re seeing is great opportunities for buyers that did not exist five or six years ago,” Mr. Cunliffe said. “I think there’s really good value now on the coast.”
The kinds of properties available include historic estates, generally a bit inland; contemporary houses on the coast; and smaller attached town houses. Mr. Roads said his best-sellers were potential teardowns and fixer-uppers in the best locations, describing that market as having “some spring in its step.”
WHO BUYS IN CORNWALL
The more protected south coast of Cornwall is a draw for sailors, while the rugged and windswept north coast is especially popular with surfers and water-sports enthusiasts, notably Princes William and Harry, who have visited Polzeath.
Mr. Roads said about 70 percent of the homes sold by his agency, which focuses on the area around Rock, were to outside buyers, who in recent years have typically been bankers from the ‘’wealth belt” of Britain — the area from Bristol to London — with others coming from Scotland and the Midlands, and some from the Netherlands and Germany.
But Mr. Standen said the recession had flipped the percentages for his firm, with most sales now coming locally. He said he had recently sold homes to Americans from cities like New York and Chicago.
BUYING BASICS
There are no restrictions on foreign buyers in Britain, said Alistair Whyte, a partner and the head of residential property at the Truro office of Coodes Solicitors.
An important new tax enacted this year imposes an annual fee on high-value properties owned by companies, either domestic or offshore.
The principal transaction fee is the stamp duty land tax, a graduated levy that starts at 1 percent of purchase price for properties worth over £125,000 and tops out at 7 percent for properties worth £2 million or more. There is also a onetime fee for the surveyor, who inspects the property for potential repairs.
Buyers and sellers generally retain lawyers; Mr. Whyte says that legal fees generally start at about £700, but that at the higher end, they constitute a small percentage of the sale price.
Broker fees of around 2 percent are normally paid by the seller, Mr. Whyte said.
LANGUAGES AND CURRENCY
English; pounds sterling (£1 = $1.53)
WEB SITES
Cornwall tourism: visitcornwall.com/
National Trust historic sites: nationaltrust.org
Buying and selling a house in Britain: gov.uk
TAXES AND FEES
Council taxes are £2,393.78 a year, said Mr. Roads, adding that the surveyor fee for this property amount to a little over £1,000.
CONTACT
The property is jointly listed by John Bray Partners in Rock, 44-01208-863206, johnbraysales.co.uk; and Savills Cornwall in Truro, 44-01872-243200, savills.uk
