Newquay – a housing market out of control

Newquay is a settlement, which has undergone considerable change over the years.  Originating as Tewynplustri or Towan Blystra in 1305, it has evolved into an urban area spreading onto adjacent farmland.

 

So lets look at more recent history from 1991 to 2021.  Using census geographies, Newquay is divided into three Mid Super Output Areas (MSOAs) - 018 St. Columb Minor and Porth, 020 Newquay West and 021 Newquay East.  Looking at these areas its possible to examine how it has changed over time.  One problem is that different censuses have used different ways of measuring the number of dwellings without residents. The 1991 census included second homes and holiday lets as separate categories. Whereas in 2011 it simply recorded dwellings with no residents (unoccupied).  In 2021 the data covers occupied and vacant and second homes. [NB Numbers have been rounded as appropriate].

 

What has changed? Overall, The number of dwellings is up from 8,650 to 14,155,1.6 fold (as has those occupied), however dwellings without residents are up 2.2.fold from 940 to 1,120.  The data suggests that the number of second homes is up eight fold.  As a percentage share, occupied dwellings have fallen from 88.1% to 85.5%, while those without residents have increased from 10.9% to 14.6%, (second homes up from 1.1% to 5%). 

 

We can also look at ownership (with holiday lets and vacant numbers are estimated), to see the number and share of different types of tenure in 2021.  Of the total of 14,200 dwellings, 7,500 were owner-occupied, followed by 3,100 rented (and rent free), with 1,300 social rented. The remainder covered second homes (700), holiday lets (600) and vacant (700).

 

Owner-occupied properties were highest in St. Columb Minor & Porth at 59% with the lowest share in Newquay West at 43%.  This MSOA also had the highest share of second homes (11%) and holiday lets (9%).  Private rented properties were more prevalent in Newquay East (24%) and Newquay West (23%) with 17% in St Columb Minor & Porth.  Social rented properties shares were fairly consistent across Newquay. 

 

[There were 581 holiday lets on the Business rates register and Booking.com has a total of 617 properties advertised].

 

It is also possible to calculate the number and share of properties by ownership.  Second homes and holiday lets are added to the owner occupied properties to give a total privately owned figure. The share of those privately owned was fairly similar across the three MSOAs at 85% as was that of social rented properties at 9%. We can see that of all those which are privately owned, 63% were occupied, 26% were rented out as private residential lets, 6% were second homes and 5% were holiday lets.

 

Conclusion

Newquay has seen a dramatic increase in population and dwelling numbers while there has also been a significant rise in the number of dwellings used for holiday purposes.

 

Sources

Booking.com

Cornwall Council, Business rates.

Office for National statistics, Census, 1911, 2001, 2011, 2021.