The ‘Poldark effect’: can TV shows cause a property boom?

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2015/apr/27/poldark-effect-tv-shows-property-boom

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While some of us have been distracted by Ross Poldark’s talent for shirtless scything, for others the TV drama appears to have provoked fantasies of something else entirely – a stone cottage, perhaps on a clifftop, or a farmhouse with acres of rugged land. Property website Rightmove claims that searches for the areas of Cornwall where the period drama is filmed have more than doubled, citing a “Poldark effect” on sales and inquiries since the BBC series started last month.

TV shows can have a noticeable effect on prices, though it seems more likely to be on an individual, newly famous property than the market as a whole. In January, the blue riverside chalet where DI Alec Hardy lived in the ITV drama Broadchurch went on sale. “We were amazed at the response,” says Malcolm Gill of the agency Lyme Coast Holidays. “The owner had it on the market about three years ago for £200,000, and we sold it with a price guide of £275,000. I think that can only be attributed to its fame.” Although he wasn’t keen on the series, he thinks it resulted in inquiries for holiday lettings going up, “probably by about 50% or so”.

Not all areas can bask in the glory of TV recognition – one survey, again by Rightmove, found that 48% of people considered Brentwood, where The Only Way is Essex is filmed, as being “less desirable” because of the reality show. But most places fare better. Lyme Park, which starred as Pemberley in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, had a 176% increase in visitor numbers, and the National Trust, which owns it, expects to see a similar effect this summer at its properties used in Wolf Hall. Northumberland’s tourist board said the crime drama Vera increased visits to the area, and I was one of a growing number of tourists to Shetland in the wake of the BBC’s adaptation of Ann Cleeves’s crime series.

But is the Poldark effect real, as opposed to people idly browsing property websites and dreaming of starting up a tin mine? “No, not really,” says Andrew Harvey, managing director of Cornish estate agents FAC. “Where Poldark is filmed has always been a popular place anyway, so I haven’t seen any huge upsurge in inquiries in those areas – Charlestown, or down west where the tin mines are on the edge of the cliffs. I would say it is early days for people wanting to move here purely because [of Poldark].”

Related: Poldark could be a goldmine for Cornwall's tourist trade

Harvey says it is likely to boost tourism to the area, though. “It’s certainly very good for the county and makes the Cornish very proud of what we’ve got down here.” Jonathan Cunliffe of Savills agrees: “The holiday lettings agents all seem to be really busy and it is probably very good for tourism, but I don’t think we’ve seen that feed into property prices.”

Even so, I’m a sucker for TV locations – I can’t say I moved to Hastings purely because I’d become taken with the town on Foyle’s War, but it was definitely a factor. The problem is, I still feel a flicker of disappointment every time I see a Tesco delivery van on the winding streets instead of DCS Foyle’s Wolseley. Anyone thinking of relocating to Poldark country should be warned.