Short term rentals account for 7% of total housing stock

Across 15 of the most popular staycation destinations, holiday lets now account for 7% of total homes in the UK. However, only one of these destinations is seeing a decline in holiday let market prominence.

We analysed the latest data on active holiday rentals across 15 of the UK's most popular tourist destinations - from Southend to Scarborough, and Brighton to Blackpool. We then compared this to the total number of dwellings in each area to find what percentage of the market they currently account for.

Our research shows that, across the board, there are currently 54,657 holiday lets. Each of these holiday lets account for 3.5% of total homes in these locations, which are up from 2.8% since 2019 alone.

What’s the nation's holiday let capital?

The nation's holiday let capital is none other than Cornwall, with holiday rentals accounting for 7.45% of total homes in the area - up by 1.2% since 2019.

With regard to the biggest take over of holiday rentals, Scarborough tops the table. The town is home to the second highest current percentage of the holiday let housing stock - accounting for 7% of all homes in the town.

Ranking third is the district of Dorset, where the current holiday market share (6.1%) has increased by +1.6% since 2019.

‘Holiday lets put a stranglehold on housing availability’ - GetAgent CEO Colby Short

“Holiday lets are an understandably contentious subject and one that has really come to the forefront during the pandemic due to sky high demand for staycations while travel restrictions were in play.

At the same time, many traditional buy-to-let landlords have looked to holiday lets as a way of improving their financial returns, due to the far higher rental yield potential and following a sustained campaign by the Government to deter buy-to-let investment.

For many local residents, this upward trend will be unwelcome news, as the general consensus is that holiday lets put a further strangle hold on local housing availability, pushing the cost of both renting and buying out of reach.

Of course, the flipside is that these local economies rely heavily on tourism and a higher provision of holiday rentals helps to boost tourism spend which, in turn, has a positive influence on the wider local area.”

Data and Methodology

• Holiday let versus dwelling stock coastal locations / Holiday let versus dwelling stock.
• Data sourced from Gov.UK. and AirDNA.