Second home ownership can have really, really miserable effects on UK communities. From driving up property prices and making housing unaffordable for locals to creating seasonal ghost towns, second homes are also a luxury that, the vast majority of the time, aren’t really necessary.
And now one UK village is taking matters into its own hands by banning people from buying second homes. Burnham Market in Norfolk recently held a referendum on backing new rules to tackle the number of holiday lets and second homes in the town, with more than 80 percent of residents supporting such measures.
Burnham Market is apparently nicknamed ‘Chelsea-on-Sea’ thanks to the number of wealthy Londoners that own property there. The Mirror reports that one in every four properties in the village is a second home, and that as a result house prices are extortionate and the permanent population has fallen dramatically.
So, how many Britons actually have second homes? Well, according to government data, back in 2022 just over 800,000 second homes were owned by households in England. Which might seem like a lot – but it isn’t, not really. For context, the Office for National Statistics reckons that there are over 28 million households in the UK in total.
The referendum in Burnham Market would back introducing new measures designed to ban existing homes being turned into holiday lets, as well as ensure that all new developments are for ‘principle residences’.
Good on Burnham Market! Here’s to hoping more UK towns can claw their communities back from down-from-towners.
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