If you’re one of millions who have embarked on a UK staycation this summer following the coronavirus pandemic, you may now be thinking of buying a second home as an investment.
With lockdown restrictions eased at the end of June, lodge holiday provider Hoseasons reported a booking every 11 seconds, while Airbnb revealed it had more domestic bookings in three days than during the whole of April.
With that kind of demand looking like it’s here to stay, buying a holiday home could be both a solid investment and a great place to whisk the family away for a short break whenever it suits you.
But where is the best place to buy a holiday home in the UK?
We’ve analysed Google search data to reveal the most searched for and most in-demand holiday home locations in Britain…
Holiday home trends for 2020
The biggest increase in holiday home searches was for properties in Herefordshire.
With a huge 600% increase in monthly searches, the rural tranquillity of Herefordshire and the Wye Valley is clearly in high demand.
A more surprising entry in our top-10 list was Surrey, which saw a 320% rise in searches during June.
Close to London, however, holiday homes or second homes in Surrey can be perfect investments for those who prefer a more urban staycation.
Elsewhere, coastal locations Dorset and Devon saw more than double the number of searches for holiday homes, while picturesque Scotland
and North Yorkshire also ranked in the top-10.
| Rank | Search term | Searches: June 2019 | Searches: June 2020 | % Increase |
| 1 | holiday homes herefordshire | 10 | 70 | 600.00% |
| 2 | holiday homes surrey | 50 | 210 | 320.00% |
| 3 | holiday homes norfolk | 1600 | 5400 | 237.50% |
| 4 | holiday homes berkshire | 10 | 30 | 200.00% |
| 5 | holiday homes rutland | 10 | 30 | 200.00% |
| 6 | holiday homes northamptonshire | 10 | 30 | 200.00% |
| 7 | holiday homes dorset | 1000 | 2900 | 190.00% |
| 8 | holiday homes scotland | 1900 | 5400 | 184.21% |
| 9 | holiday homes devon | 1900 | 5400 | 184.21% |
| 10 | holiday homes north yorkshire | 170 | 480 | 182.35% |
Most in-Demand holiday home locations for 2020
British staycationers clearly still love a seaside holiday, as our top-10 most in-demand holiday home locations prove.
Way out in front was Cornwall, which saw a huge 174% increase in searches for holiday homes during June – taking its total monthly searches to just under 15,000.
Interestingly, Cornwall holiday homes were most searched for by people in Bristol, perhaps showing that staycationers don’t want to travel too far for a holiday on these shores.
Norfolk holiday homes, meanwhile, saw the biggest percentage increase in our top-10 most in-demand areas, with a 237% rise in searches in June compared with the same time the previous year.
| Rank | Search term | Searches: June 2019 | Searches: June 2020 | % Increase | Most searched for by… |
| 1 | holiday homes cornwall | 5400 | 14800 | 174.07% | Bristol |
| 2 | holiday homes scotland | 1900 | 5400 | 184.21% | Edinburgh |
| 3 | holiday homes norfolk | 1600 | 5400 | 237.50% | Brighton |
| 4 | holiday homes devon | 1900 | 5400 | 184.21% | Bristol |
| 5 | holiday homes wales | 1600 | 3600 | 125.00% | Liverpool |
| 6 | holiday homes lake district | 1300 | 2900 | 123.08% | Liverpool |
| 7 | holiday homes dorset | 1000 | 2900 | 190.00% | Bristol |
| 8 | holiday homes isle of wight | 1300 | 2400 | 84.62% | Southampton |
| 9 | holiday homes northumberland | 590 | 1600 | 171.19% | Newcastle |
| 10 | holiday homes north wales | 720 | 1000 | 38.89% | Liverpool |
Least in-demand locations for 2020
For all of the huge numbers of searches for holiday home locations in the UK during June, there were some places that saw less demand.
Searches for holiday homes in Bedfordshire actually dropped by 50%, with the county the only place in our top-10 to register a minus figure.
| Rank | Search term | Searches: June 2019 | Searches: June 2020 | % Increase |
| 1 | holiday homes northamptonshire | 10 | 30 | 200.00% |
| 2 | holiday homes west midlands | 10 | 20 | 100.00% |
| 3 | holiday homes south yorkshire | 10 | 10 | 0.00% |
| 4 | holiday homes bedfordshire | 20 | 10 | -50.00% |
| 5 | holiday homes worcestershire | 30 | 50 | 66.67% |
| 6 | holiday homes berkshire | 10 | 30 | 200.00% |
| 7 | holiday homes rutland | 10 | 30 | 200.00% |
| 8 | holiday homes buckinghamshire | 20 | 30 | 50.00% |
| 9 | holiday homes west yorkshire | 20 | 30 | 50.00% |
| 10 | holiday homes leicestershire | 10 | 20 | 100.00% |
Is buying a second home a good investment?
Buying a second home can be a great investment, but how great will depend on what you want to achieve financially.
If you’re looking to rent out your second home, you should be looking to buy in an area where there is strong demand.
And if you’re buying a second home to use yourself, perhaps for regular staycations, you may be more focused on longer-term capital growth, so you’ll want to buy in an area where price growth is strong.
Following Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to introduce a stamp duty ‘holiday’ in the UK, you could save a substantial amount of money if you buy a second home between now and March 31, 2021.
Take a look at our guide to the new stamp duty rules for more information.
How to buy a second home
If you’re buying a second home, there are things you’ll need to know and consider before doing so.
Stamp duty
Buyers of buy-to-let properties or second homes must pay an additional 3% in stamp duty.
So, even with the Chancellor’s stamp duty ‘holiday’ in place, you’ll still pay at least 3% in stamp duty if you buy a second home.
Your mortgage
If you’re buying with a mortgage and already have one on your main home, your lender will also want to know why you’re buying a second property.
You may also need to have at least 25% of the property’s purchase price as a deposit if you already own another property and your lender will need to be certain you can afford both mortgages.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
If you own a second property in the UK, you may be liable for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when you sell it.
Council tax
Council tax is payable on furnished second homes even if you’re not living at the property full-time.
Further reading…
If you’re thinking of buying a holiday home and considering whether or not to rent it out, or to use it as a second home before selling it in the future, take a look at these pros and cons of selling up or renting out.
Methodology: We used Google Keyword Planner to pull the search volume for holiday home-related searches in each county in the UK. We then took the June 2019 volume as well as the June 2020 volume and worked out the increase or decrease to give us our percentages. For the regional data, we pulled the individual search volumes for top 10 most in demand locations across the 18 biggest cities in the UK. We divided these numbers by the population of those cities in order to find who was searching for those terms the most per capita, which gave us our regional rankings.
