Property prices in the North Lakes have risen by 10 per cent, say leading North Lakes experts – with one estate agent saying the housing market was ‘mental’.
Houses are being snapped up – often above the asking price – soon after for sale signs go up, estate agents are reporting.
Paul Johnston, head of sales at Edwin Thompson’s Keswick office, said: “Keswick and the North Lakes is always popular but since lockdown it has gone pretty mental.
“Prices have gone up 10 per cent the last few months. We’ve got two and three-bedroom local occupancy properties with gardens in Keswick at £225,000 that are suddenly £250,000. They are flying off the shelves.”
He said lockdown and the rise of people working from home had changed people’s perceptions and gardens or outdoor space was key.
Mr Johnston, who has 27 years’ experience in estate agency, said the boom also applied to the middle and higher end of the market.
He added: “I have never known such an increase in interest in such a short space of time. My diary is busier than ever. We accepted a £515,000 offer for a house at Ireby that had gone on the previous week for £499,000.
“Another at £599,000 got the full asking price and there was one on Penrith Road in Keswick, which someone took the first week, we could have sold four times.”
Andrew Green, managing director of PFK which has an estate agency office in Keswick, said: “PFK have seen a significant recovery in the initial reopening of the housing market and this has continued through the summer.
“In comparison with the same period last year, data shows new applicant registrations are up, with significant interest from out-of-area buyers.”
Nick Miller, managing director at Fine & Country estate agency’s Cumbria operation, said: “The market has improved dramatically for buying and selling. We had a long period during the Brexit nonsense when people sat on their hands.
“There has been a knock-on from Covid and people are looking to accelerate their move out of a city or town.
“More people at the higher end are thinking about that now and they are coming from other parts of the UK and abroad. They are moving for lifestyle reasons – choice not need.
“We have seen our number of instructions more than double in the last three months compared to what we had in the first five months of this year.
“COVID-19’s role in that has been really significant. I can’t say prices are rocketing but I am very happy that the market has improved.
“Houses that had been on the market for a long time are now selling. It is really positive.”