Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

£4 billion in rental income down the drain

Owners of holiday homes around the world could be missing out on over £4.2 billion of rental income each year because they choose to keep their second homes to themselves, rather than rent them out to a burgeoning marketplace of self-catering holidaymakers. Self-catering holidays have grown by 22 per cent over the past five years and the number of such breaks is expected to exceed 34.3 million by 2011[1].

The latest numbers from the Office for National Statistics[2] claim that around 850,000 Britons now own property overseas. However, with the majority of home owners only spending four weeks of the year in their second homes[3] and only 20 per cent of owners actually renting out their property[4], there are literally billions of pounds of income not being reaped by potential holiday home landlords.

When analysing average weekly rental rates in the top investment destinations such as Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, and using average guest occupancy figures, holidaylettings.co.uk found huge sums in rental income could be made by the 680,000 second homes overseas thought to be left unused for much of the year. This figure is equivalent to nearly four times the GDP of the Maldives.

Ross Elder, MD of holidaylettings.co.uk says: “With average annual rental income for a mixed use investment ranging between £7,000 and £18,000 per annum and the demand for self-catering holidays on the increase, there's a fantastic opportunity for owners of holiday homes to reap the rewards of the healthy rental market.”

-end-

Notes to Editors:

[1] Mintel, Self Catering Holidays, UK March 2007
[2] ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, January 2008
[3] Holidaylettings.co.uk Home Owner Survey, December 2007
[4] Mintel, The Market for Homes & Housing Overseas, UK August 2006

For further info, contact:

Kate Stinchcombe, PR Officer
kate@holidaylettings.co.uk
07791 114296 / 01865 312010

About holidaylettings.co.uk

holidaylettings.co.uk is the UK’s No.1 holiday home website providing the most effective online advertising for owners of over 22,000 private holiday homes. Attracting in excess of 1.5 million visitors each month, holidaylettings.co.uk is a user-friendly search tool for holidaymakers to book self-catering accommodation direct with owners.