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Second homes in the UK to grow 24% by 2015, says report

25th August 2005 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

Numbers of second homes in the UK are set to grow by 24 per cent - 77,000 homes - in the next ten years, says a report by the Centre for Future Studies published today. The figure signifies a shift in second home ownership trends that the Centre, in research commissioned by insurer Direct Line, believes that it has discovered.

The authors have identified a number of factors that they believe will dictate market trends in 2015, ranging from the weather to growing affluence to careers and lifestyles, as the number of second properties grows from 328,000 to 405,000.

The number of second properties in Britain owned within the UK will also outstrip numbers abroad by 156,000, says the Centre.

A growing consciousness of climate change – with the environment agency predicting a 3.5 per cent rise in British temperatures by the end of the century, meaning that Cornwall will have a climate similar to the south of France by 2050 – means that holiday makers are increasingly confident of finding sunshine at home.

The rise in temperatures will expand second home ownership further north, with some currently unlikely areas such as the Hebridean island of Mull and the north coast of Scotland tipped as "second home hotspots" by 2015, with temperatures equivalent to those of Durham.

Exmoor, the Northumberland coast, the north Yorkshire moors and Snowdonia in north Wales are also likely to be at the forefront of the 'second' second home boom.

Increased affluence is also predicted to play a role, and with UK employees said to be 73 per cent better off within the next 20 years, more and more of us will be able to use a city centre property for the working week while retreating to a less urban family home at the weekend.

Beneficiaries of a trend for buying near work could be up-and-coming urban areas, where prices may rise, such as inner-city Bradford - now in the early stages of regeneration - and east London, according to forecasters.

Cities further down the regeneration road, such as Newcastle, Liverpool and Glasgow, will become "ideal locations for rural dwellers looking for pied-a-terres close to their city offices", the study says, though central London - now the most common location in Britain for second homes - will retain its popularity.

"The home is an extension of the way you live your life and we don't live our lives from one place any more. It's a real growing trend, particularly among young people," Seirian Hanner, Leader of the Foresight project at the Centre for Future Studies told the Guardian.

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