It is said that Cornwall has around 14,000 properties that are owned by people whose primary residence is elsewhere. This means Cornwall has more second homes than anywhere else in the UK.
The average price for a property in Cornwall is £247,432 according to property portal PrimeLocation.com.
The local authority of Westminster takes second place with around 7,152 second homes with an average price of £1.04m. In third place are Chelsea and Kensington who have 6,737 second homes with an average price of £1.175m.
The other places in the UK that make up the top ten are as follows;
Birmingham – Properties 6,431 – Average value £149,503
North Norfolk – Properties 4,763 – Average value £275,606
Camden – Properties 4,120 – Average value £759,717
South Hams In Devon – Properties 4,115 – Average Value £331,477
Tower Hamlets – Properties 4,074 – Average value £343,958
Scarborough – Properties 3,979 – Average value £168,923
South Lakeland in Cumbria – Properties 3,845 – Average value £265,434
Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.com, said:
“Despite the gloomy economic climate, the number of second homes in the country increased in 2011 (from 246,026 in 2010 to 246,494 in 2011). As ever, the majority of these are on the coast providing somewhere to escape to for the summer, a long weekend, or Christmas.
“Another factor driving the second homes market forward is the poor rate of return being offered by more traditional investments such as bank deposits, stocks and shares and even ISAs, leading many to see a second home as a more promising place to invest their capital in the medium-to-long term.”