The growth in holiday homes is threatening to outstrip the housing supply in popular tourist areas, campaigners have warned.

Research by Generation Rent has found that 80% of the growth in holiday homes during and since the pandemic was concentrated in just 25 local authorities.

In these areas, 72,754 new homes were built or converted in 2019-22, but 20,803 (29%) were lost by becoming commercial holiday lets or second homes.

In seven areas, including parts of the Lake District, North Yorkshire and Devon, the growth in holiday homes effectively cut new supply by more than half.

Portsmouth was the worst hit area, according to Generation Rent’s findings. For every four homes built in 2019-22, five disappeared into the holiday home sector.

Other holiday hotspots where the growth of holiday homes is undermining efforts to boost supply for locals are Torridge, Devon (holiday home growth equivalent to 63% of new supply), South Lakeland, Cumbria (63%), Scarborough (56%), Richmondshire, North Yorkshire (49%) and North Norfolk (42%).

The worst affected London Borough was Southwark, where 4004 new homes were added to the stock, but 2428 were lost into the second homes sector (61%).

Dan Wilson Craw, acting director of Generation Rent, said: ‘The unregulated and undertaxed holiday let sector is out of control. It has taken homes away from locals who grew up in holiday hotspots and people who want to work in the tourist industries, making these areas unsustainable. A large part of the solution to high rents is more housebuilding, but locals won’t see the benefits of this if houses continue to leak into the holiday homes sector.

‘It is welcome that the Government is looking at ways to regulate holiday lets, but there is a huge risk that the proposals will lock in the sector’s recent growth and make it harder to bring down rents by switching properties back into residential use.’

If you found this article interesting, then check out our feature, 'Short-term lets registration scheme must be optional'.

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