{"id":135845,"date":"2025-09-14T02:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/135845\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T02:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:08:18","slug":"inside-devons-dubai-how-a-sleepy-fishing-town-enjoyed-a-property-boom-with-millionaires-snapping-up-homes-they-had-never-seen-but-five-years-later-is-the-bubble-finally-bursting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/135845\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Devon’s Dubai: How a sleepy fishing town enjoyed a property boom with millionaires snapping up homes they had never seen… but five years later is the bubble finally bursting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its winding country lanes, small fishing boats and frequent rain showers, Salcombe feels a million miles from the Middle East.<\/p>\n

But the sleepy Devon seaside town has undergone a property boom unprecedented outside the sunbaked Emirate, according to experts.<\/p>\n

The town – nicknamed Chelsea-on-Sea – experienced a \u2018perfect storm\u2019 during Covid as thousands flocked out of cities and took the opportunity to work from home, putting pressure on an already expensive housing market.<\/p>\n

During that time, local estate agents told the Daily Mail the town experienced a \u2018goldrush\u2019 with some properties doubling in price in just a couple of years and buyers spending millions on homes without even viewing them while others arrived by helicopter to discreetly tour homes away from prying eyes.<\/p>\n

In recent months the second home market has declined prompting some to claim \u2018the bubble has burst\u2019 in Salcombe.<\/p>\n

Blair Stewart from Strutt and Parker specialises in Prime Property Sales in Salcombe and South Hams says that isn’t the case and describes what’s happening as a ‘market correction’.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018When Covid hit it turned everything on its head.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a feeding frenzy. I was doing 50% of my sales before the property ever hit the market.<\/p>\n

\"Is <\/p>\n

Is the Salcombe property bubble finally popping?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"For <\/p>\n

For years, the sleepy Devon seaside town has undergone a property boom unprecedented outside the sunbaked Emirate, according to experts<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a surge, a massive influx of new buyers and it became like a goldrush.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everybody was trying to bail out of London and they came down here on holiday and woke up to how beautiful it is.<\/p>\n

\u2018The market was already really strong for second homes and we saw a 25% price jump in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u2018We had well-known people coming down by helicopter. I’d pick them up and drive them around to view places and nobody ever spotted them walking along the street.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know anywhere else in the UK that experienced a situation like this, the nearest thing I can compare it to is the property buzz in Dubai when I worked there.\u2019<\/p>\n

At one point Blair was selling properties for \u00a32,000 per square foot – equivalent to prices in Knightsbridge.<\/p>\n

He first noticed a slowdown in the market in 2023 when many businesses started asking their employees to return to the office.<\/p>\n

Additional stamp duty, a double council tax levy introduced by the local council in April and a new rule in Salcombe that newly built homes must be sold as main residences also contributed to the slowdown.<\/p>\n

\"At <\/p>\n

At one point Blair Stewart was selling properties for \u00a32,000 per square foot – equivalent to prices in Knightsbridge<\/p>\n

\"He <\/p>\n

He says the town – nicknamed Chelsea-on-Sea – experienced a \u2018perfect storm\u2019 during Covid<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018I sold a \u00a32million home because the owner had been told they have to go back to the office in London.<\/p>\n

\u2018Some people came down with a Kirsty and Phil dream of living in the country but struggled with a 30 minute drive to the supermarket.<\/p>\n

\u2018What we are getting here is a little bit of a return to normal.<\/p>\n

\u2018Salcombe is still beautiful and popular. Buyers still pay a real premium for those amazing views as well as convenience and privacy.<\/p>\n

\u2018The market is still going, there are just challenges. If there was a crash in the market none of these houses would have sold.\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2023 and 2024 Salcombe was named the UK\u2019s most expensive seaside town, overtaking Sandbanks in Dorset, but lost the crown again in 2025.<\/p>\n

In 2022 average house prices in the town were around \u00a31.2million.<\/p>\n

But visiting the Devon town this week, it was hard to miss the number of for sale signs currently posted.<\/p>\n

\"Now <\/p>\n

Now though, it is a different story almost entirely\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"It <\/p>\n

It is no longer rare to see a for sale sign outside one of the resorts’ plush properties – but it is rare to see one sold\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charlie Heath, associate director at Marchant Pettit who is based in Salcombe, added: \u2018We had an extraordinary uplift in prices from 2020 to 2023, the equivalent normally would\u2019ve been spread out over five to six years.<\/p>\n

\u2018The vast majority of properties during Covid were going to sealed bids or best and final.<\/p>\n

\u2018One property I valued in late 2019 was around \u00a3800k, I said put it on for \u00a31m and sold for \u00a31.4 in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u2018Another went \u00a31m over the guide price, there\u2019s lots of examples of the sheer madness of the time.<\/p>\n

\u2018A new development of townhouses were all sold between \u00a3600,000 and 700,000, three years later they were sold for between \u00a31.25m and \u00a31.275m.<\/p>\n

\u2018The current situation is certainly not a market crash, we had a very good start to the year.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is primarily the additional property stamp duty surcharge – people accepted three per cent but five per cent is making people adjust what is offered.<\/p>\n

\u2018The reality of Salcombe now is there\u2019s a gap between sellers and buyers – sellers are motivated to sell and will have the limit of what they can drop to and buyers have what they want to come up to and there is a gap at the minute. If they\u2019re not selling to buy something else many are happy just to hold out for the price they want.<\/p>\n

\u2018But we are getting good prices and are where we would probably expect to be if the last five years hadn\u2019t happened.\u2019<\/p>\n

The holiday rentals sector was another area that benefited from the huge demand from families during Covid.<\/p>\n

And while bookings have slowed to more normal levels, bosses insist Salcombe remains one of the country\u2019s top holiday destinations.<\/p>\n

James Spencer founded Pebbles, a holiday lettings company, in 2004 and is the largest employer in Salcombe.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018During Covid money was moving so quickly. As soon as lockdowns were lifted, bookings exploded.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have never experienced anything like those two years when winters were as busy as the summers.<\/p>\n

\u2018It has slowed and last year was tough for a lot of businesses here but this year has been much better.<\/p>\n

\u2018The character of the place hasn\u2019t changed and this year Salcombe has this feel of a seaside family holiday destination as it did back in the 90s.\u2019<\/p>\n

But locals insist the town is still thriving – especially during the summer – although now operating at its pre-Covid levels.<\/p>\n

Tamsin Lafferty-Hall, 41, who owns Bojangles Gift shop and Salcombe Cruises said: \u2018The period around Covid was great for businesses here.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our boat cruises were booked up three weeks in advance and we got some bad reviews because people were frustrated that everything was fully booked.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was I think everybody did very well but there was always going to be a time when people could go abroad again.<\/p>\n

\u2018You just had to make the most of it while it was happening.<\/p>\n

\u2018I see a lot of properties on the market at the moment but I think that\u2019s due to the double council tax for second homes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Salcombe gets a lot of bad press for being expensive but it\u2019s one of the most beautiful places in the country.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pam Williams, 72, who has lived in the area for 17 years, said: \u2018It has certainly been quieter the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

\u2018I know a lot of second home owners who have been hit by double council tax and put their houses up for sale.<\/p>\n

\u2018Things are still selling but not as quickly as a few years ago<\/p>\n

\u2018The summers were always busy as well as Christmas and New Year when people come back.<\/p>\n

\u2018I preferred the buzz when it was busy, people would come down on a Friday evening and go back on a Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u2018But the parking situation was absolutely atrocious which makes it very difficult to just nip to the shops and get something.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its winding country lanes, small fishing boats and frequent rain showers, Salcombe feels a million miles from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,97,429,59,2294,388,2295,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-135845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-dubai","11":"tag-gb","12":"tag-home","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-property","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}