Study reveals the second home market is worth £43.5bn

Our latest research has revealed that the estimated value of the second home property market currently stands at a whopping £4.5bn across England and Wales. Kensington and Chelsea take the top spot for second homes with the most value, while Cornwall snags the most volume of second homes.

We analysed the latest data from the Office for National Statistics on second home homeownership levels, before studying the estimated value of the second home property market based on the latest house price data from the Gov UK House Price Index.

Let’s take a look!

Flats dominate the second home market stock

We found that there are an impressive 141,245 second homes currently found across the property market in England and Wales.

Accounting for 42% of all second home market stock, flats take the top spot as the most common type of second home. Detached houses and terraced homes also prove popular amongst second home homebuyers, coming in at 23% and 21% respectively.

Semi-detached homes trail behind at 13%, proving to be the least prevalent second home property type.

The UK holds £43.5bn in the second home market

We looked at the current average house price for each property type to discover the total market value of the second home market.

The figures showed that while flats may be the most common, it’s detached homes that hold the greatest market value. The average price of a detached home across England and Wales currently stands at £478,744, meaning the total market value of detached second homes comes in at a whopping £15.9bn.

Following closely behind, second home flats are estimated to be worth £14.9bn in the current market, with terraced homes and semi-detached properties worth £7.3bn and £5.5bn respectively.

Following these findings, we estimated that the total market value of the second home property market is currently worth a staggering £43.5bn!

See the breakdown by region.

Which area ranks the highest?

When it comes to the area with the most second homes, Cornwall ranks as the nation’s second home hotspot by quite some margin. In fact, there are currently 9,425 second homes found across Cornwall, with Kensington and Chelsea ranking second with 5,355.

Westminster is the third hottest spot in the second home housing market with 4,390, followed by North Yorkshire at 4,190, and Gwynedd at 3,475.

When it comes to the total market value of the second home housing market, the top three remain the same, albeit in a different order. Kensington and Chelsea sits top at an estimated £6bn, followed by Westminster at £4.2bn, and Cornwall at £3.1bn.

Tower Hamlets and South Hams also make the top five at £1.4bn and £1.1bn respectively.

See the number and value of second homes in your area here.

The impact on housing affordability

Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:

“There are some 141,245 second homes owned across England and Wales and while this equates to a minute proportion of total dwellings, the issue is that they are largely concentrated within certain areas of the market such as London and the South West.

So it’s understandable that second homeownership is a contentious subject in areas such as Cornwall, where the local population feels they are priced out of the market by those driving up house prices when purchasing holiday homes that are rarely inhabited.

You’d need only look at the average house price in areas with high second home ownership levels and the total value of the second home market to see the impact it’s having on housing affordability.”

It will be interesting to see how these trends continue into the new year. Where does your area rank?

Data tables

Data tables and sources can be found online, here.