The housing market in South Cumbria is heating up which is a reflection of how attractive the region has become to big business.

That’s according to Angela Cornthwaite, who was speaking to us as part of our regular 10 minutes with feature where we discuss the week’s news stories with a prominent person in the business community.

Housing prices in Cumbria on the rise.

“The housing market has been up and down and up and down since the recession and we’re still waiting for it to settle down, every year we think to ourselves ‘might it be this year’ and we’re looking forward to 2016.

“I have noticed that there are a lot more people looking to come to south Cumbria with a view to settling down, the market is very busy with people who are looking to buy but since the floods, fewer are looking to sell, trying to get their affairs in order first.

“In Barrow and Dalton, the demand is definitely being fuelled by employers, the last year, more than any other recently we’ve found people looking to buy straight away rather than rent first and buy later.

“The job market absolutely stands out as the reason why, people are buying across south Cumbria and commuting to Barrow and Sellafield and low interest rates are helping first time buyers feel confident in their investments.”

Flood recovery efforts

“While we weren’t actually flooded, our head office has seen the full extent of the problems caused by flooding, all of the staff have been affected either directly or indirectly.

“People’s friends and families have been have all been affected and we’ve been incredibly busy trying to find rented accommodation for the people that have been forced out of their homes.

“I do think that the floods have really brought out the human side of things again, we had planned a staff party using the proceeds of various targets we hit over the year and have decided to give that money to the flood recovery fund.”

McDonald’s and James Cropper working together

“I think, much like any organisation, Poole Townsend is a group of people who have a rich belief and care for our surroundings as a company.

“So we’re all about helping keeping it lovely and these green issues are important for how the Lake District continues to thrive and remain the beautiful landscape that it is.

“So as it’s important to our staff, you can often find us putting on our wellies over the weekend to improve little areas and try to do our bit to be considerate and keep everything nice.”

So, who is Angela Cornthwaite?

“I live near Grange-over-Sands and have been with Poole Townsend for the last 10 years and have been head of property for since 2010.

“Poole Townsend is a firm of solicitors that has branched out into financial services and property, we have a fully functioning estate agency which has been offered the full range of property services including lettings for residential and retail properties for the last eight years.

“We cover the South Lakes, the Furness Peninsula and North Lancashire.”