Looking for a forever home by the sea? Whether downsizing or upsizing, read our top tips for making a wise move to the coast.
Words Lesley Gillilan
It often starts as a holiday romance: a whirlwind week of beaches, cliff walks and fresh sea air. At home, you relive the moment by trawling through properties for sale – and before you know it, you’ve exchanged contracts on a forever home on the coast. You might have fallen for an idyll of childhood memories, or somewhere you grew up in. One visit is sometimes all it takes.
For novelist Lucy Martin, it was a day trip that initiated her move from London to Devon. ‘It was my dream to walk on the beach barefoot, swim
in the sea, be free,’ she says.
A move from the city to the seaside is always an affair of the heart, but sensible movers take a pragmatic view, checking the financial balance sheet and weighing up the pros and cons. Whether you are downsizing or upsizing, choosing the right place at the right price is an important factor in making it work.
UPSIZING
This is where you cash in on a high-value urban property to buy a larger, cheaper house by the sea – a win-win situation which can leave you with cash in the bank and mortgage-free.
When Lucy Martin moved to Devon, she swapped a ‘small, boxy house’ in south London for a home in Teignmouth, ‘twice the size and half the price’, although money was only a small part of her motivation. ‘I felt suddenly able to breathe, spread out, have guest rooms, indulge my creative hobbies,’ she says. (She uses the extra space to run retreats for fellow writers.)
The majority of upsizers are urban couples with young children – or plans to start a family – looking for room to grow in places that offer a completely different pace of life. And for many, the ability to maintain an income is essential; either relocate with an eye on starting a new business, capitalise on work-from-home opportunities, or choose a seaside town within commuting distance of city jobs.
In any case, the trick is to make the sums work and buy accordingly. Even allowing for a dip in the market, prime city prices usually outstrip many coastal towns; compare, for example, the price of a two-bed flat in west London (c£1.5m+), with a four-, five- or even six-bedroom house
in Hastings or Whitstable (c£850,000) – both popular with upsizers. Think what you could do with all that change.
DOWNSIZING
Most downsizers are retirees or empty-nesters rattling around in a property they’ve grown out of, looking to swap a family house for something more manageable, simultaneously releasing equity and reducing household bills. Downsizers are less concerned with jobs and commuting and more interested in spending quality time in a place where they can enjoy life.
‘People want proper towns with thriving waterfront communities – places that don’t die in the winter,’ says Devon-based independent property consultant Elizabeth Knight, whose relocation service sees a lot of downsizers moving to the West Country’s coastal towns and villages.
A recent client moved from inland Norfolk to Sidmouth in south Devon. ‘They were looking to release equity but their main motivation was all about lifestyle, pace of life and – interestingly – the weather.’
REALITY CHECK
For Coast readers, the passion to be by the sea is rarely based on the idea that every day will feel like a holiday, as it might be for some people who spend less time by the ocean. Readers generally love being by the sea throughout the year, come rain or shine, but it is important to have a realistic view about a permanent move to the coast.
As well as considering priorities, such as sea swimming, surfing, sunsets and scenery, it’s essential to investigate relevant common-sense factors, like schools, public services, transport and a sense of community. When researching your destination, it’s wise to go deeper than the price of local property. Lucy Martin says she spent a winter in Teignmouth before committing to the move.
You might, for example, have fallen in love with the Isle of Wight, forgetting to factor in the cost of getting there and back (the island’s ferry service is expensive), the swell of visitors in the summer (around 1.8m of them last year) and that bars and restaurants may close in the winter. Moving from the Midlands to the beautiful west coast of Scotland? You will be a long way from family and friends.
The sums don’t always add up, either. If you have your heart set on, say, Sandbanks in Dorset, Salcombe in Devon or Aldeburgh in Suffolk – among the most expensive property markets in the country, according to the latest Lloyds Coastal Home Review – you may have to adjust your expectations. The value of your urban property may not stretch that far.
Conversely, there may be a reason why that seaside town is so temptingly cheap: poor transport links, no secondary school, patchy broadband – they all make a difference to your quality of life and although they may not be the overriding deciding factor for you, it’s important to be aware of them.
WHEN TO GO
Even allowing for the slight downward trend in current property prices – and a general mood of uncertainty – there is no time like the present. A combination of stamp duty surcharges and higher council taxes, levelled at second-home owners, has left some former holiday properties on the market in some areas. And, across the board, price reductions are common.
‘The surging cost of owning a second home means there are far fewer buyers in this market,’ says David Fell, lead analyst at Hamptons International. ‘Today, there are half as many people looking to buy a holiday home than during the same time in 2019.’
The result, he explains, is that ‘movers who have built up a bank of equity as primary buyers’ have less competition and more choice.
According to the Lloyds Coastal Homes Review, the market has dropped by only 1%, but price drops are higher in some areas and, even in hotspots like St Ives in Cornwall or Lymington in Hampshire, are seeing reductions. Places that may have seemed out of reach two years ago now look more affordable – which, overall, is good news for first-time buyers or anyone looking for a forever home by the sea.
Browse the latest seaside homes for sale, discover our property of the week or pick up the latest copy of coast magazine for more coast property news.
