This staycation summer is seriously exacerbating a worrying housing crisis. In many areas, but particularly in holiday hotspots, locals and key workers are being priced out of the market more than ever.
The pandemic, low mortgage rates, the chancellor’s stamp duty cut, a surge in staycations and working from home have all increased the demand for second-home bolt holes. And, as we report from Cornwall today, the rise of websites such as Airbnb means that long-term tenants are being forced out in favour of lucrative short-term lets.
It is a dilemma in Devon and Cornwall, with the southwest host to more than a quarter of England’s second homes, but also in the Lake District, Norfolk and other areas, where MPs are pushing for restrictions on second-home owners, and some local authorities have already begun to introduce them.
It is a dilemma because without second homes many of these places would lose much of the income on which livelihoods depend. Crude second-home bans or attempts to price non-locals out of the market with bigger council-tax premiums are likely to do more harm than good. Nobody, however, should have an issue with building more affordable homes reserved solely for locals.
Second-home owners have an obligation too. Working from home offers digital commuters a chance to bring money into these regions all year round. After this unusual summer, there should not be a return to the pre-crisis norm where homes left empty for 90 per cent of the year coexist with a local housing crisis. The solution to this dilemma need not be draconian.