A second home abroad was once a sign that you had arrived — a badge of glamour
and sophistication, whether you were keeping your head down on the Costa del
Crime after a bank job went wrong, or popping round to Mick Jagger’s place
in the south of France to borrow a cup of brown sugar.
Times are changing. Flying is the fastest-growing source of carbon emissions
and, as government and opposition battle it out to prove who is the greenest
of them all, that holiday villa abroad is starting to look a little — how
shall we put it? — naff. Add in the sheer discomfort of flying, and a recent
EU report predicting that Skegness will one day be as warm as the south of
France, and there’s no contest. After all, what would impress your friends
more — a second home in the Cotswolds or one in Bulgaria?
Research by Knight Frank, the top-end estate agency, based on council-tax
data, puts the number of second homes in Britain at 280,000 — 240,000 of
them in England — a 17% rise in the past three years. Savills, using what it
claims is more sophisticated data from the Department for Communities and
Local Government, says that the real number is nearer 365,000 — suggesting
that 1.5% of homes in Britain, valued at an estimated £73 billion, are for
secondary occupation.
Whatever the true figure, there is little doubt that the number of second
homes will keep rising. “With increased wealth and money being poured into
property, it’s a market that will grow quickly,” says Liam Bailey, head of
residential research at Knight Frank. “And with the green debate and the
hassle of security checks, getting a place in, say, Suffolk, will be more
acceptable.”
Buying a second home in Britain need not mean missing out on the luxury
lifestyles of France, Spain, Italy or America, whether you want to lounge by
the pool, hit the surf or take to the slopes. Just don’t expect it to be
cheap . . .
Chiantishire v Cotswolds
Ever since the days of the grand tour, Brits have headed for the sun-drenched
hills of Tuscany in search of good food and high culture. But buy a villa in
Chiantishire these days and before you’ve even exchanged contracts, you’ll
find Cherie Blair on the phone, wondering if you have a couple of weeks free
in August.
Most buyers looking for la dolce vita, says Rupert Fawcett of Knight
Frank’s residential department, would like a property in a quiet location,
with no renovations needed and often with separate guest accommodation. Why
bother when you can find the equivalent within a two-hour drive of London?
The prosciutto crudo may not be so good, but Daylesford Organic lamb
can be just as delicious.
Il Molinaccio, a restored mill house with seven bedrooms near Gaiole, in the
heart of Chianti, for example, is on sale for £1m with Knight Frank (020
7629 8171, www.knightfrank.com).
For £100,000 more, you could buy CowcombeHill, a six-bedroom Cotswold-stone
house set in three acres near Stroud. It is on sale with Butler Sherborn for
£1.1m (01666 505105, www.butlersherborn.co.uk).
Puerto Banus v Sandbanks
The marina of Puerto Banus is just down the Costa del Sol from Marbella, but
is designed for visitors who arrive by private yacht rather than EasyJet. It
offers upmarket shopping, powerboat racing, deep-sea fishing and
international-class one-upmanship. The King of Spain and Julio Iglesias have
both dropped in. Pretty it isn’t: imagine serious flooding in Steven-age and
you have the idea. It might also be handy to brush up on your Russian:
bling-loving oligarchs have colonised the place.
In Sandbanks, Dorset, they think Puerto Banus is for poor folk. The area
claims to have the best beach in Britain, and has even been referred to as
the St Tropez of the English south coast. It’s far more classy than that. In
2000, a survey of the world’s most expensive property hot spots by a New
York estate agent placed Sandbanks fourth (after Tokyo, Hong Kong and Eaton
Square). Two years ago, a small bungalow fetched £2.75m, plus £200,000 for a
garage — and the buyer was planning to knock it down.
Property for sale in Puerto Banus consists mainly of flats. In the Marina
Banus development, a four-bedroom flat is for sale for £600,000, through
Diana Morales Properties (00 34 952 765138, www.dmproperties.com).
In Sandbanks, £625,000 buys a two-bedroom flat less than a minute from the
beach, via Key Drummond (01202 700888, www.keydrummond.com).
Italian Lakes v Lake District
The lakes of Lombardy are where visitors have traditionally gathered to gaze
upon some of the world’s largest wallets. It is the kind of place, according
to one agent, where you can “water-ski in Lake Lugano in the morning, lunch
at a lakeside cafe and snow-ski in St Moritz in the afternoon”.
Well, that sort of thing might be all right for your international bankers and
foppish Hollywood folk, but you’ll find a much more rugged, nononsense crowd
in the Lake District, cruising along Lake Windermere or enjoying the Steam
Traction Experience.
For £645,000, you can buy a four-bedroom villa between Lake Como and Lake
Lugano, complete with indoor pool and wine cellar (www.lakelugano.com).
The same money would buy you a 17th-century farmhouse near Broughton in
Furness, with oak beams, an Aga and six acres of garden and paddock. Sadly,
however, there is no indoor pool (through Carter Jonas, Kendal; 01539
722592, www.carterjonas.co.uk).
French Riviera v English Riviera
The French Riviera was once a byword for sophistication. These days, the
Riviera towns of Nice, Antibes, Cannes and St Tropez have gone much more
down-market — and are horribly crowded in high season.
If all you want is a sun-kissed beach, then you’d be just as happy on the
English Riviera, known more prosaically as Torquay, Torbay and Paignton.
Don’t worry — they’re not as cold as they sound. And as for sophistication,
well, who better to ask than Alan Bennett? On a trip to Egypt, he once
overheard an old lady complaining about the local attractions to a fellow
traveller: “Palm trees are nothing to us — we’re from Torquay.”
According to the most recent figures from Halifax, the average price of a home
in Torquay is £168,435. Torquay Real Estate has a luxurious one-bedroom flat
there, with views over the harbour, for £169,950 (01803 327287, www.torquayrealestate.com).
This is the same price as a furnished one-bedroom flat in Nice from Azur
Properties (00 33 6 89 15 50 62, www.azurproperties.com).
Surfers’ paradise: Hawaii v Cornwall
Despite the best efforts of the Beach Boys to promote California, Hawaii is
where the serious surfing is done. The trouble is, it takes 16 hours to get
there from Britain, and property can be pricey. A home in Honolulu with a
pool and ocean views, marketed by Choi International for £7.6m, is described
as “a 21st-century Versailles” (www.luxuryhomesnetwork.com).
Newquay airport, by contrast, is only 45 minutes from Gatwick or Stansted, and
the surf on Fistral beach is up to 12ft high. Veterans still remember the
day in 1966 when a 20ft wave appeared over Cribbar reef.
Surfing is so popular in Cornwall that it has affected the housing market —
and do you really need a palace to park your board? Knight Frank will soon
offer “surf pods”, or modern beachside flats, from £110,000 to
£200,000. “The town is changing,” says Miles Kevin, a partner at Knight
Frank’s Exeter office (01392 848844, www.knightfrank.co.uk).
“Somebody told me that the bar take last year was down 20%, but the
restaurant take was up 30%, which shows that a different crowd is going
there.”
Florida v Bognor Regis
Florida attracts twice as many retired people as any other American state.
They go there for low taxes, good healthcare and — above all — because it’s
known as the Sunshine State.
Bognor Regis is not quite Miami, but the West Sussex town can claim more
sunshine than any other town in Britain. It has suffered something of an
image problem since George V was so rude about the place on his deathbed,
but there is certainly plenty to do, what with the the annual film festival
and the Birdman of Bognor contest, in which competitors hurl themselves from
the pier in an attempt at man-powered flight. Unlike Florida, there is no
danger of being attacked by an alligator on the golf course.
At the Lakes of Mount Dora retirement community, near Orlando, individual
waterfront properties start at £100,000, through Pringle Development (00 1
800 325 4471, www.pringle.com).
For £6,000 more, you could have a one-bedroom flat at Seaward Court, in
Bognor, a short walk from the sea, with Fifty5plus (01488 668655, www.fifty5plus.co.uk).
French Alps v English Alps (yes, honestly)
Why pay top euro for a chalet on the crowded, lift-scarred slopes of Val
d’Isãre or La Plagne, when you could buy a cottage near the snow-kissed
Pennines? The town of Hexham, Northumberland — named best market town in
England by Country Life in 2005 — is a half-hour drive from the tiny resorts
of Allen-heads, Yad Moss, Harwood and Swinhope. “On any given weekend in
winter, the chance of skiing is about 50% — or worse”, is the proud boast.
In Hexham, £195,000 would buy a three-bedroom mews-style townhouse with Foster
Maddison (01434 605441, www.fostermaddison.co.uk).
That is just about the cost of a two-bedroom flat at Les Arcs, from Solvimo
(00 33 4 79 00 28 28, www.solvimo.com)
A place in the country —and in town
To see the
number of second homes in England, area by area, click here.
The City of London has the highest proportion of second homes in England,
according to an analysis by Knight Frank, the estate agency. Roughly 26% of
properties in the Square Mile are secondary residences, many of them weekday
pieds-à-terres owned by people with their main home in the country.
Among holiday destinations, the Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall, have the
highest proportion of holiday homes (19.5%), followed by the South Hams, in
Devon (10.1%), north Cornwall (9.7%) and north Norfolk (9.5%). Also popular
are Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland (9.2%); Penwith, Cornwall (8%); South
Lakeland, Cumbria (7.4%); Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and Purbeck, Dorset
(both 6.9%); and Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (6.2%).
The largest number of second homes in absolute terms is in Westminster
(9,235), followed by Birmingham (7,117) and Kensington and Chelsea (6,719).
