The honest market
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Words by Hannah Tapping
Why Cornwall remains one of the most compelling places in the country to put down roots.
If you’ve been paying attention to property headlines lately, you could be forgiven for feeling uncertain. There’s plenty of noise in the market: talk of nervousness, of rising mortgage rates, of a budget that briefly froze buyers in their tracks. But spend time with the team at Jackson-Stops’ Cornwall office and a rather different picture emerges. “It’s not as bad as you may think,” says Mark Price, branch manager of the Truro office. “Things are surprisingly very positive out there in the South West market.”
That’s not spin. Jackson-Stops has been a fixture of the British property landscape since 1905 and its Cornwall operation handles some of the most distinctive and sought-after homes in the region. Speaking from the vantage point of a practice that deals daily with buyers relocating from London and the Home Counties, and sellers navigating a market that has shifted considerably since the pandemic peak, the firm’s message for 2026 is one of cautious optimism, provided, above all, that sellers get the pricing right.
In a market defined by bespoke, one-off properties, the kind that don’t sit neatly beside comparable sales, pricing has always been more art than science. Jackson-Stops works with clients to establish a range rather than a single figure, calibrating that range against how quickly a vendor wants to move. However, in the current climate, the market has a way of delivering its own verdict, and quickly at that. “If a property goes to the market and we haven’t seen the activity we would expect of a new instruction, within the first three or four weeks, that really tells you everything you need to know: the price is probably too high,” says Mark.
The pitfalls of over-pricing are well illustrated by a recent Jackson-Stops sale. A property the team valued at £700,000 to £750,000 was taken to market at the vendor’s preferred £800,000. After a couple of months without traction, the price came down to £700,000 and the result was a bidding war that settled at £720,000. “That just reiterates to me, that there are good buyers out there, but that the price that you go into the market with is crucial now, perhaps more so than it’s ever been,” adds Mark.
For sellers anxious about leaving money on the table, there’s a reframing worth hearing. “You’re never going to achieve the prices that pandemic years were delivering,” Mark acknowledges, “That said, the property you are looking to purchase is likely to be considerably more attractive from a value perspective than it would have been two or three years ago. If you are both selling and buying within the same market, it is important to remember that everything is relative. While values may have adjusted, the same market conditions are affecting both your sale and your onward purchase.” It’s an argument that tends to land.
The level of stock on the market over recent years has been economy driven. “The Autumn Budget 2025 – and particularly the prospect of a mansion tax – had a chilling effect on buyer confidence at an already cautious moment,” comments Mark. “As soon as the budget was announced, most buyers who were looking to spend money essentially pressed the pause button.” Those would-be buyers didn’t disappear though; many simply waited. Meanwhile, sellers who had been on the market throughout that nervous period remained listed, their properties rolling into 2026 alongside the usual spring wave of new instructions. “The result is a buyer pool with more choice than it has seen in years. Whereas people used to come down and view three, four, five properties on their shortlist, they’re now coming down and viewing 10, 15, 20 in some instances.”
The good news is that the hiatus has ended. “There were buyers that didn’t buy last year for budget reasons, and then there were those who were just unsure about what the market was doing. However, the first four or five months of this year have certainly exceeded my expectations given what was quite a quiet finish to 2025.”
The seasonal logic also holds: every new seller entering the market is also a new buyer, so spring activity tends to build on itself and drive additional momentum. The caveat, as ever, is timing, says Mark. “If you are coming into the market now, wanting to affect a sale this year, you have to price yourself competitively to gain the buyer’s attention, giving them a reason to come through the front door. Once September/October arrives, that naturally sees a slowing down.”
Against the backdrop of national market jitters, Cornwall continues to hold its own as a destination of genuine appeal. “It’s still relatively competitive compared to certainly the Home Counties and London,” says Mark. “A significant proportion of buyers continue to relocate from other parts of the UK, particularly from regions where property values remain comparatively strong. Many tell us they are selling what would be considered a fairly modest home in their local market and, in return, are able to purchase a substantially larger property in Cornwall, often with more land, and, in many cases, spectacular coastal or countryside views.” The pandemic accelerated a trend that was already well under way: people who had always dreamed of retiring to Cornwall are now making the move a decade or more ahead of schedule, enabled by remote working. “The word lifestyle sums it up, it’s one of the biggest drivers we work with here,” explains Mark. The motivations behind such moves remain remarkably consistent. “Whether it is a relocation to be closer to children and grandchildren, or a decision to move the family to Cornwall in pursuit of the lifestyle the county offers, these drivers remain just as compelling today as they were five years ago. It is extremely encouraging to see that Cornwall continues to hold such enduring appeal.”
Pricing resilience varies across the county, as one would expect. Rock on the North Coast retains its premium following. The South Coast havens of Fowey and Looe also remain similarly robust. Emerging pockets, Redruth and Camborne among them, are gaining attention for what they offer relative to their price. And across the county, for those willing to look beyond obvious postcodes, there is, as Mark puts it, “something really stunning available for under a million pounds.”
The nature of property search has been transformed over recent years and Jackson-Stops has been adept in moving with the times. Where once buyers arrived with a broad brief, today they come armed with research, shortlists and increasingly specific criteria. “We’re dealing with a much more intelligent and informed buyer now,” says Mark. “Buyers are now contacting us saying, you’ve got these three properties, I’d like to view them, and these are the reasons.”
Driving much of this is the rise of AI-powered search. Where platforms like Rightmove constrain buyers to bedrooms, price and radius, tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini allow something closer to a conversation: search for a rural retreat with ten acres, a sea view and good school proximity and AI will likely surface it. For Jackson-Stops, this has proven an unexpected competitive advantage. “We were actually quite shocked at how many potential buyers have now turned to AI to search for their new homes,” admits Mark. “Of course, those AI search engines are scouring websites, looking for keywords, and due to the nature of our very descriptive explanations of property, a lot of those keywords are generally featured within the advertisement of the property we’re marketing – therefore the results that AI can generate are actually working very well for us.”
The firm attended a two-day Jackson-Stops national conference in November focused heavily on AI and its implications on the industry. The conclusion was reassuring: the practice was already doing, unknowingly, much of what the new technology demands. The response now is simply to go further, making property descriptions even more detailed, more specific and ultimately more searchable.
One of the most significant shifts the Jackson-Stops team has observed is the rise of the multi-generational purchase. Where annexes and secondary cottages were once pitched primarily as holiday letting opportunities, particularly during the Cornwall holiday-let boom, that conversation has changed. Tax changes, rising care costs, and a shortage of care home places have prompted many buyers to think differently. Mark highlights a notable shift in buyer behaviour in recent years: “Five to ten years ago, it was common for purchasers relocating to Cornwall to view annexes or secondary cottages as an opportunity to generate income through holiday letting,” he explains. “Today, where properties include additional accommodation within the grounds, we are increasingly seeing these spaces repurposed for multi-generational living, providing homes for parents, adult children, or extended family members rather than serving as holiday lets.”
It’s a trend that has been impossible to miss at ground level. “It’s only 11 o’clock on a Monday morning and I’ve had two phone calls already from potential buyers who are looking for that type of thing,” says Mark. A recently launched property – a working equestrian farm just outside Launceston, with a farmhouse and four holiday cottages – drew its first two viewings from families looking to house elderly parents, not holiday let investors. The picture is nuanced: some buyers want parents under the same roof; others want them close, but not too close, a distinction the annexe model serves perfectly. And younger generations feature in the calculation too. Whilst house prices remain elevated, many parents are buying properties with annexes as a way to give adult children independence without the barrier of a large deposit. “I think it’s a combination of diversity,” says Mark, “which is a good word for what’s happening at the minute.”
For buyers relocating from the South East, the Jackson-Stops name carries a particular weight. With 40 offices across the UK, the firm is as familiar in the Home Counties as it is on the Cornish coast. Mark explains that a significant proportion of buyers relocating to Cornwall are already familiar with the Jackson-Stops brand through their own property transactions elsewhere in the country.
“A large number of our buyer database are selling through Jackson-Stops offices in other parts of the UK before relocating to Cornwall, so there is already a strong sense of familiarity and trust in the brand,” he said. “Jackson-Stops has been established since 1905, and that heritage gives buyers confidence when navigating what is often a major lifestyle move.”
He noted that for purchasers in areas such as Surrey and the South East who are considering a move to Cornwall, the reassurance of dealing with a respected national property brand at both ends of the transaction can be an important factor in the decision-making process.
The firm’s advice to anyone considering a move – whether buying or selling – is consistent and clear. Get an honest and trusted market appraisal; know what your property is worth in this market, not the last one; and don’t be discouraged by the noise. “The more educated you can be as a seller is very important within this marketplace,” sums up Mark. “If you know exactly what your parameters are in terms of what your asset is worth, you can then better plan your onward movement at a time that suits.” The market, in short, is there for those who understand it and in Cornwall, the reasons to move here have never really changed.
