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Return of the holiday home?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Source: Catherine Deshayes

According to a new survey, only a few hundred Brits bought an overseas home in 2009, a staggering drop of 80% on the previous year.

Sales were down, but what did this select group buy? Not an investment, not a buy-to-let cash cow nor an off-plan contract they hoped to flip. The answer is they bought a holiday home - relief, normal service has been resumed.

Su Bishop from developers Arena Park France, specialists in Burgundy, comments, "As the purpose-built identikit resorts spread across once virgin coastlines fell from favour, there was a marked return to a real home in a real village surrounded by real native neighbours. Today our clients tend to be better off, do not necessarily need mortgages and relish the fact that they don't need Google Earth to point out where their holiday home is."

It would seem that the off-plan buying hysteria that momentarily made a fortunate few very wealthy is a long way off making a comeback, and indeed may never happen again. A new global economic order means that people are not so quick to be brave having been bitten by Bulgaria and deluded in Dubai. Clients now choose a second home because they both want it and can afford it. Even the cloudiest financial skies have their silver lining.

The comprehensive survey looked at 1,200 Brit-owned holiday homes across all five continents and estimated that they owned 430,000 foreign homes of which 25% were in France (a further 25% in Spain and 25% elsewhere in Europe).

Source: www.arena-park.com