The Telegraph and HomeAway unveil favoured UK holiday let locations

UK: The Telegraph has revealed a list of the best places in the UK to run a holiday let, following a research collaboration with estate agency Savills and holiday home accommodation website HomeAway.

The list of the ten most in-demand UK destinations for travellers was compiled by HomeAway, which lists over 92,000 domestic holiday lets, before Savills calculated the current average house prices in those areas to determine the best locations on the matter.

Area                                                                        Average house price
London                                                                           £617,200
Edinburgh                                                                     £277,400
St Ives                                                                            £351,500
York                                                                               £277,200
Whitby                                                                          £220,800
Kingsbridge                                                                 £386,500
Windermere                                                                £344,400
Norwich                                                                       £223,300
Filey                                                                              £169,200
Tenby                                                                           £243,700

[Research carried out by HomeAway/Savills]

Paul Tostevin, director of world research at Savills, told The Telegraph that property owners that could afford to buy second homes are now seeking to operate them as holiday lets when they are residing elsewhere, as a sign of increased pragmatism across the market.

He said: “The market for second homes has changed significantly over the past ten years, with buyers now prioritising rental income over the luxury of buying exclusively for their own use.

“We found that more than two thirds of owners now rent out their second homes for at least part of the year in order to cover part or all of their costs. They are increasingly looking to turn a profit too,” he added.

In another emerging trend uncovered by the newspaper, holiday home rental website Cottages.com said the property numbers on its website had shot up by 23 per cent in the first half of 2019 compared with the equivalent period in 2018.

Reasons for this, it said, included the uncertainty over Brexit, a slow housing market and rising numbers of landlords transforming their properties into holiday lets to escape high tax hikes on buy-to-lets.

Stephen Boucher, holiday lettings expert for Cottages.com, specialises in analysing holiday let trends and told The Telegraph that smaller properties designed for romantic getaways were gaining popularity, as well as hot tubs and dog-friendly facilities.

Meanwhile, estate agency Hamptons International reported that the proportion of properties being purchased as second homes had dwindled since 2016, which it attributed to the implementation of a stamp duty surcharge on additional home acquisitions around the same time.

This was backed up by similar reports of opposition towards holiday lets in areas such as Northumbria, the Lake District and Cornwall.