Before and After

I’ve been mulling over this Blog for weeks. Before and After. What? The film starring Meryl Streep? Sadly if today you Google “Before and After” you get dreadful pictures of Beirut and the devastating ammonium nitrate explosion. No, not that either. Before and After Covid-19 would be far too ambitious – I can just remember a time before, but I’m sure there’s a long way to go before we can say “after” Covid. I wanted to write about something much nearer to home in more than one sense of that phrase: about a local property which has been sympathetically improved, enhancing life for the occupiers and fully in keeping with this beautiful part of the world. Unfortunately, we are neither “before” or “after” but still “during” Covid restrictions, and so the work is still awaiting the attention of skilled craftsmen. Well, now you know what I’ll be writing about at some point in the future!

We might not have reached “after” Covid yet but there have certainly been changes in the property market. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has raised the threshold at which stamp duty kicks in to £500,000, to help people move home, save them up to £15,000 in tax, and boost the economy. This will last until the end of March next year. The surcharge for non-owner-occupied properties remains in place but whichever way you look at it, there are savings of up to £15,000 on house purchases in and around Keswick.

My office has recently been insanely busy and we’ve undertaken more valuations in a week than in a typical pre-Covid month. Perhaps I shouldn’t use the word “insanely” because there seem to be a number of good and sane reasons for this upsurge. Obviously people who have been thinking of moving are now motivated by the Chancellor’s generosity, which is exactly what he’d hoped for. And for the first time in my years managing this office we have sufficient numbers of properties coming onto the books to meet demand – for the moment. Perhaps the attractions of living in a more rural and outdoors environment as opposed to urban or suburban locations have also become more apparent during the Covid period. If so, either as a main home or as a holiday home, where better than Keswick to enjoy fell views, good food and drink, wonderful walking and water sports.

On the investment side, bricks and mortar can be viewed as again offering a safer bet than the Stock Market with its high profile Fund Management problems and the FTSE-100 index currently labouring at mid-1990’s level. These are just random reflections of mine so please take professional advice before investing. But, whatever the reasons for the current level of interest in properties in and around Keswick, I’m most certainly busy!

If you are thinking of buying or selling property in this area, the sooner I hear from you, the better. And please stay safe!

Hannah Sims - Manager at PFK Estate Agency, Keswick