The Datum Report

Standing view · housing · Cornwall

The housing market in Cornwall has been losing ground.

deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-07.

Households in temporary accommodation in Cornwall rose to 867 in the first quarter of 2026, and households served a no-fault eviction notice and owed a prevention duty to 69, while 400 households were owed a relief duty. Rents were broadly steady: a two-bedroom home cost £884 a month in February 2026, a three-bedroom home £1,080 in March, a one-bedroom home £689 in April and a terraced home £1,038 in July. The average house price was £276,899 in February. The pressure here is in the homelessness figures.

How this was decided

A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Cornwall. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.

The 2 measures that formed this view

MeasurePeriodDirection
Households in temporary accommodation2026-Q1deteriorating
Prevention duty, section 21 notice2026-Q1deteriorating

Also published on this topic, but not counted

These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.

MeasurePeriodSeries
Average house price2026-02
Average private rent, two bedrooms2026-02
Relief duty owed2026-Q1 falling
Average private rent, three bedrooms2026-03
Average private rent, one bedroom2026-04
Average private rent, terraced2026-07