DEMAND is soaring for rural properties in West Devon as the loosening of lockdown sees people from other parts of the country fleeing for beautiful Dartmoor.

‘It has gone a little bit silly at the moment,’ said Nick Henderson, managing director of Mansbridge Balment, based in Yelverton, Tavistock and Okehampton. ‘Since lockdown has been released, it has become increasingly busy with buyers that we would not have previously heard from, and as restrictions on movement are lifted more and more we are seeing more people registering with us from outside the region.

‘The interest from people outside the region has increased dramatically and we have even seen sons and daughters of people living elsewhere in the country who have been viewing properites and making offers on their behalf without actually seeing them.

‘We have also seen good prices, exceeding prices on offer by 15 per cent from people outside the region who are cash buyers or people in a position to buy right now.’

He said people wanted to buy rural properties above all else ‘with large gardens — outside spaces are becoming more of a factor’.

‘Rural is the key, and fortunately this office covers quite a large rural area,’ he said. ‘The national park is very popular, be it Duchy leases or freehold property and everything from £100,000 cottages to properties of just under £1-million.’

Ollie Richards from View Property estate agents in Tavistock said they too had seen an increase in interest since lockdown, helped by the Government waving Stamp Duty on property purchases up to £500,000 until next spring in a bid to stimulate the housing market.

‘June was an incredibly busy month, with lots of local buyers as well as buyers from outside the area,’ he said. ‘They are realising they don’t need to be in the towns and cities, they can go up once a month or a fortnight to the office and do the rest by Zoom.

It has been really positive for us, to the extent that we are now looking to hire an apprentice.’

Matthew Miller, director of Miller Town and Country, said his offices in Tavistock and Okehampton had seen ‘a huge surge of interest in local properties’ as the lockdown had eased.

‘On May 13 our estate agents reopened for business and saw a huge surge of interest in local properties. This correlated with Rightmove reporting their busiest day on record for house searches on May 27.

‘Unsurprsingly, Devon and Cornwall featured hightly as the most sought-after locations due to the unrivalled natural beauty and the opportunity for a balanced lifestyle.

‘Country properties, smallholdings and equestrian units are in particularly high demand, as are properties with letting units or options for two family occupation,’ he said.

‘With inevitable possibilities of working from home in future, much of this interest is being generated from London and larger towns and cities in the South East.

He added: ‘Although this market won’t last forever, my personal feeling is that we will see this momentum run well up to the end of this year.’