Second Home Occupancy
Posted on 10. May, 2009 in News
According to various sources recently, on average holiday home owners are leaving their properties vacant for something like 70% of the year. I have read a range of comments from 50 weeks to 9 months.
Apart from the obvious potential for a burglary and thus the need for adequate insurance this reflects the huge potential of the holiday home rental market on the supply side.
Obviously there are some people who for differing reasons have a holiday home they never visit or even let out to others, while there are other holiday home owners who aim for 100% rental occupancy and probably get somewhere near that. Some properties are in resorts where due to the market and flights from the UK it wouldn’t be realistic to expect more than 6 months occupancy. Greek islands and Bulgarian beach resorts are on this list. The figures will also differ according to how much personal use people get out of their holiday home this can sometimes be governed by how far away the property is and whether or not weekend breaks are feasible.
While many second home owners are renting their holiday homes out of necessity ( due mostly to the fall in the value of the pound meaning higher maintenance and mortgage costs ), there is still a huge latent capacity of bedstock that could be utilised by DIY holidaymakers creating their own holidays thanks to the continued rise of the low cost airlines. At some stage an increased number of holiday homes made available for rental by owner to holiday makers through rental sites like HolidayLettings.co.uk and Holiday-Rentals.co.uk will surely lead to an over supply situation meaning disappointed advertisers or low rental income ? As a holiday home owner looking for rental income this just means you have to be on your toes and one step ahead of the game. This website is here to help.
If you are a holiday home owner, I would be very grateful if you would take a moment to leave a comment. How many weeks of the year is your holiday home empty for ? Do you think the holiday home rental market will reach an over supply situation ?
Emma Jackson
May 15th, 2009
Hi, we have an apartment in Puerto Banus which we have let out fairly successfully through Owners Direct the last few years but this year has seen a lot less enquiries and bookings. I think it’s just lower demand for Spanish holidays in general but yes probably more choice too.