Self Catering Holiday Home Buyer

Change of use from holiday park to permanent

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:44:00 +0000

Here is a case in Wales of a successful overturning of a council-led holiday restriction so that houses can be turned from holiday use to permanent. There are a large amount of holiday restrictions applied, especially where hotels are converted into apartments for example, and this often means that the sale prices of such properties attract VAT - very off-putting to buyers.

Read the full article here

Self catering not so easy

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:25:00 +0000

There's an article in the Times about self catering being hard work and not being the road to riches. They are right; in recent years the market has become more competitive, with it harder to guarantee occupancy and customers more demanding.

On top of this property price rises have reduced percentage returns - your property may now be worth £500,000 as opposed to £250,000 but rents haven't doubled.

It is possible for properties to do well but you need to:
- Find a property in a good location with clear appeal in photographs - internally, externally and with views
- Make sure you pay a good price for it
- Fit it out well but stay on top of your budget
- Maintain standards
- Spend a lot on marketing or find a good agent
- Expect to offer last minute discounts
- Treat your customers well

Read the article:
http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article6945288.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

Growing trend for self catering in the City

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:47:00 +0000

The Telegraph chat to a couple who have set up a small business renting out houses and apartments in London on a short-term, holiday basis. It seems alot of the takers are from Down Under.

Read article

Some good news for South West housing market

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:56:00 +0000

According to recent Nationwide figures the housing market in the South West is recovering more strongly than anywhere else in the country.

New figures show house price increases of nearly 5 per cent in the past three months.

Read article

Hoseasons think that 'staycation' will fuel demand in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Hoseasons are seeing demand for 2010 UK holidays up 50% on the same point last year

Read full article

Rocklands nears completion

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:51:00 +0000

I went to visit Rocklands in Newquay last week and was once again blown away by the views - these have to be the best views in Newquay bar none. It's nearly ready to go with the firsts guests staying at the end of the month. They won't be disappointed. The location is close to the heart of town and the building towers over Tolcarne Beach. The apartments with balconies overlooking the beach have an amazing vista. The communal roof garden has a hot tub and loungers - in the height of summer this will be a great place to feel as though you are really in the heart of things, yet on a different level. Rocklands Newquay

BBC article on the budget tax changes

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:20:00 +0000

The proposed changes to the positive tax position on holiday lets is not good news for holiday home owners.

South West agencies are lobbying to get this proposal overturned.

Read the BBC article on the potential impact on the self catering holiday market

Second home owners feeling the pinch

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:40:00 +0000

The Times has an article on how second home owners, feeling pressure from redundancy and investment losses are looking to rent out homes. This will increase the supply but hopefully demand will keep up!

Read the Times article

Some estate agent hope

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:10:00 +0000

I've spoken to a few agents over the last few days to sound out the market. They were surprisingly upbeat. Whilst offices have been cutting back to skeleton staff levels vendors have become more realistic on prices and sales are starting to come through. One agent in Bude has had 10 sales during January and February which must be outperforming the UK market by some way. Things have been bad and it's going to be a tough year - and no one thinks prices have hit the bottom - but low expected savings and stock market returns are tempting investors back to the holiday property market.

Out and about in Bude

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:51:00 +0000

I popped up to North Cornwall on Monday. The weather was good and the estate agents I spoke to were surprisingly upbeat - things are ticking over with sellers more pragmatic on pricing.

In Bude the Strand Hotel is coming up for development and just south of Bude is Widemouth Bay. This is one of the area's most popular surfing beaches and you can see why. There is a fine new development here called Marine Drive. The developer has just reduced asking prices and the properties are available through Webbers.

Happy New Year news

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Travelsupermarket has announced that searches on its site for UK cottage holidays are up 27%.

Read article

Hoseasons report boost to holidays in UK

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:48:00 +0000

"Hoseasons, the UK’s biggest self-catering holiday operator, says bookings are up 15 per cent on this time last year Cottages, farmhouses and lodges in Dorset, the Cotswolds and the Yorkshire Dales are all booking well. Cornwall and parts of Scotland are not as popular, because they are a long distance from major areas of population."

Read full article

Whilst it emphasizes that areas close to the major centres are benefitting, it doesn't say whether bookings for Cornwall or Scotland are down or flat compared to this year.

Holidays 'last thing people will give up'

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:09:00 +0000

Holidays ‘last thing people will give up’

Holidays still remain a high priority for people despite the current financial turmoil, a new study shows.

More than half (59%) said that even if they had to cut back on spending, their main annual holiday would be the last thing they would give up.

Eighty two per cent of the 2,000 Thomas and First Choice holidaymakers asked said their annual holiday was not a luxury but an important event in the year.

And 88% would not choose holidays as primary area to cut spending.

READ FULL ARTICLE

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Obviously First Choice and Thomas Cook have a vested interest in good news from such a survey but the message is positive.

Newquay rolls on

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:25:00 +0000

Today I went to the launch of Tourism Newquay, the new destination marketing organisation.

The guys have put together a great site - Visit Newquay - and I really hope that local businesses get behind them.

Newquay needs very good marketing. It's a great town but the season is short. Even when the weather is good, as it was today, the town is very quiet. Newquay needs quality facilities to convince punters that the stunning scenery and exciting activities on offer are worth sacrificing 25 degree heat for.

The Rocklands development in Newquay nears completion. It looks fabulous - something very special. We have signed up 3 of the apartments and are hoping for more. It will certainly raise the game in the quality of accommodation on offer in the town. Let's hope Acorn's developments can match the new level.

There will be a Pizza Express on the ground floor - let's hope they will do takeaways for evenings in!

Newquay Airport closed for 3 weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:07:00 +0000

Due to handover issues the airport is going to be closed for 3 weeks. This is a real shame and could affect last minute pre-Xmas breaks.

Read story

News from TUI

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:49:00 +0000

TUI have announced good profits for 2008.

They've also cut overseas capacity for summer 2009 by 16% and suggest prices will be 10% higher.

Overall they assess that UK outbound capacity (eg the number of overseas holidays available to UK people) will be down 30% next summer, due to cuts at other providers and the failure of XL.

Again, another indication from a major supplier that overseas holidays will be expensive next year, and the UK relatively better value.

Click here

and here

Beach operators have hard year

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:43:00 +0000

More coverage of the SW Tourism 'How's Business' survey.

Read article

Overseas capacity cuts will keep prices up in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:16:00 +0000

Thomas Cook are predicting 12% less holidays available for summer 2009, and price rises of 6-7%. Combined with a weak pound making overseas spending expensive it could have a good effect on consumer's in terms of whether to holiday home or abroad. However, there is likely to still be lots of capacity outside of the peak season to keep prices down in key months.

Read article

SW Tourism How's Business Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:07:00 +0000

A couple of pieces on the "How's Business" survey undertaken by SW Tourism. Generally the view is:

30-40% are up a bit
30-40% are down a bit

So overall it looks about the same but people are probably putting a bit of a positive spin on things so the real figure is probably a bit down on 07.

Read articles:

This is South Devon article

SW Tourism Blog

Self catering visitor numbers for 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:01:00 +0000

What will demand be like for UK self catering holidays next year? There are a number of factors in play and the overall position will be driven by a combination of them.

Factors driving demand up

Less money in people's pockets leading to downtrading from hotels to self catering
Airline capacity is likely to fall next year as carriers merge or close - read Times article - leading to increased cost of overseas holidays
Green concerns
People choosing to have a number of close at home short breaks over extended holidays
Weak pound making UK more attractive to overseas guests
Weak pound making overseas holidays more expensive to UK travellers

Factors driving demand down

Less money in people's pockets leading to downtrading from self catering to camping
Credit crunch leading to holidays being cancelled altogether
Flight costs making travel to UK more expensive for overseas guests
The weather over the last 2 years

The outcome is hard to predict. If I were to have a bet I would say that, if the weather is good, demand will be up slightly overall. If the weather is the same as this year then visitor numbers will probably hold at this year's levels, which for many operators has been slightly down on 2007.

St Ives and search volumes

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:22:00 +0000

We have just taken on some self catering properties in St Ives.

St Ives is a lovely spot and I would expect demand for holidays there to remain pretty bouyant, even through hard times. So far this year search volumes have remained fairly in line with 2007, as shown by the google data below for searches on 'st ives holiday', though you can see that searches in January were down.

However, January was down on all the main UK holiday searches, such as 'cornwall holiday':

Demand for holidays, as measured by search volume on key terms, has been slightly down year on year. If you are investing then look for popular places such as St Ives that should remain relatively strong for demand.

Beside the Seaside

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:11:00 +0000

This article from the Independent suggests that in a depressed market homes with a view should better hold their value.

The article highlights Regatta Court in Exmouth. It's a good development with great views and a popular choice for self catering though, as always, make sure there aren't any covenants against holiday lets.

West Cornwall property prices

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:06:00 +0000

The Times thinks that West Cornwall could perform better than the rest of the country - read article.

Close to Penzance, with a rail link to Paddington, it believes that Mousehole and Newlyn will benefit from the marina being built there. I also think that Marazion, with St Michaels Mount, would be a good long term bet. Miller Countrywide have a number of apartments available in a new period conversion, Feliskirk Court.

Times article

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:40:00 +0000

Here's a good article from the Times with some summary points on things to remember - click here.

Credit Crunch

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Taylor, Brixham) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:04:00 +0000

The impact of the credit crunch on UK holidays next year is unclear. There are factors suggesting that it will increase as overseas holidays become relatively more expensive (worsening pound, increasing flight costs) but there is always the risk that people will cancel holiday plans entirely.

This Telegraph article suggests they will become more popular, though suggests there may also be a further shift to shorter breaks, a trend that has been very apparent over the last couple of years.