The ‘retirement towns’ being taken over by young people
Melville-Brown junior, 35, is an artist and illustrator, and was living in Pimlico in London before taking on an artists’ residency in Istanbul. His father had died shortly beforehand, and when he returned to the UK in May 2022 he started thinking hard about where to go next. Folkestone, with its relatively affordable housing, thrumming artistic scene, and outside space, appealed.
“I really appreciate the topographic drama of the cliffs, the sea, Romney Marsh,” he said. “And there is loads going on here – there are a huge number of studios, there are always exhibitions, and it is a great petri dish of ideas.”
His father’s estate is still being sorted out, but when he has his share he plans to buy a seafront apartment and settle down. “Folkestone is in a golden age,” he said.
He points out that not all of the regeneration being planned is aimed at the young – there are, for example, plans to reopen the Folkestone Leas Lift, a funicular railway between the seafront and the promenade which will make the town more walkable.
“I think there are older people who are excited about the regeneration, because they witnessed Folkestone when it was on its knees,” he said. “But there are some people who will feel disenfranchised by all the changes.”
Julien Hunt, of Savills, noticed younger buyers starting to arrive in Folkestone after the launch of high speed rail from Ashford to London in 2007, which cut journey times to just under an hour. Buyers in their 20s and 30s made up 36pc of new arrivals in 2022.
“A large number of my buyers come from London, and since Covid they only have to be in the office a couple of times a week,” he said. “You get a lot more value for money down here – if I was young and in London I would certainly be doing the same.”
Hunt agrees that, over time, price growth in Folkestone will inevitably level off. But he doesn’t think it has peaked just yet. “It is still young and trendy at the moment – it is doing a Whitstable thing,” he said.
Average house prices in Folkestone and Hythe have struggled over the past couple of years, inching up by a couple of per cent thanks to rising interest rates. But, over five years flat prices are up 19pc to an average £205,000, and houses are up 24pc, to £382,000.
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