Forget location, location, location, the new mantra for property investors is staycation, staycation, staycation. Just ask Mathew Rees. He and his family own around 220 buy-to-let houses and flats in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, but they are so certain that the pandemic has ushered in a new golden era for UK breaks that they have started buying holiday homes in Cornwall. In the past year they have spent over £5 million acquiring four properties and are in the process of buying a fifth.
“At the peak of the pandemic, I was trying to book a holiday home in Cornwall and couldn’t as everyone else was doing the same thing,” says Rees, 42, who lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and is the chief executive of the mortgage company Beneficial Estates. “Although they are seasonal, holiday lets can make two to three times more than a conventional long-term let and they look like a very good prospect. Moving forward, I only plan to buy holiday lets.”
Rees is not alone. Almost two years of on-off travel bans, labyrinthine quarantine rules and continued Covid uncertainty have boosted demand for British holidays — and investors have been quick to pile in, both during and after the stamp duty holiday. Cornish estate agency John Bray and Partners has seen a 60 per cent increase in sales of holiday lets since March 2020, while luxury holiday lettings company Unique Homestays reports a 176 per cent rise in the number of inquiries for its property finding service this year compared to 2019.
Even with lockdowns and changing regulations, many holiday let landlords are making 30 per cent more than they were before Covid, while some are earning up to 50 per cent more. Demand for out-of-season lets is increasing — in January 2021, holiday lettings companies were reporting an increase of up to 30 per cent in bookings in Wales (that’s right, Wales, in January) compared with pre-Covid years, according to Carol Peett, managing director of West Wales Property Finders http://www.westwalespropertyfinders.co.uk
The appetite for high-end homes is particularly healthy: 35 per cent of homes listed on Unique Homestays have made more than £100,000 in gross income this year, while five properties have earned over £300,000……
The Times – Friday, 10th December 2021 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-to-make-money-out-of-luxury-holiday-lets-307tqlg9v
