Holiday home rental supply increase

9 March 2009

In excess of 1,500 new holiday homes were added to holidaylettings.co.uk in February with around a fifth of those being property in Spain.

The increase in the number of homes advertised for holiday letting suggests that a growing number of people are having difficult selling their homes, and are opting to rent out their homes for income, rather than leave them sitting empty.

Holiday Lettings says that while the summer holiday is still the priority for those seeking a holiday home to rent this year, last minute enquiries for ski and half term breaks in February were up 34% compared to the same month last year. Similarly, early indications show that Easter will have the same impact on April bookings.

Eurozone property had a better month in February for booking enquiries, which will support the fact that owners of holiday homes in France, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus are still the most keen to advertise their homes for short term lettings to British holidaymakers.

Turkey, however, has jumped to be the sixth most active country for newly advertised properties, leaping ahead of Cyprus and the Canary Islands in February. This could be a result of the increased demand for holidays typical of the Mediterranean lifestyle but outside the eurozone this summer.

Enquiries for accommodation in Turkey, sent during February, were up 65% year-on-year. Croatia experienced similar demand with booking enquiries up 73%.