New analysis from Savills and HomeAway® reveals that internet access is not only the most important amenity for holidaymakers when choosing to rent a holiday home but also for second home owners thinking about buying a new holiday rental.  

For the Savills Second Homes Report, Savills Research surveyed 7,800 property owners who list their properties on HomeAway® in 10 major markets (UK, US, Spain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand and Brazil) alongside 6,800 holidaymakers in the same 10 countries who use the HomeAway® website for holiday home bookings.

According to the report, 64 per cent of holiday home owners and 46 per cent of holidaymakers placed the highest importance on having access to the internet when choosing a holiday home, with any access being more important than high speed access, which ranked as the second most important amenity for over half (54 per cent) of all respondents.

Other factors considered essential by owners vary by nationality. While 55 per cent of Greek, 25 per cent of Portuguese and 19 per cent of Italian owners consider a balcony or terrace to be essential, for American owners (47 per cent), it’s air-conditioning. British holiday home owners (30 per cent) value access to a swimming pool and French owners (30 per cent ) look for reserved car parking. Looking at the preferences of the holidaymakers, parking, a patio or balcony and a TV are deemed most important.

The second home market has changed significantly over the last decade. While second homes were once a discretionary purchase primarily for own use, today’s global market is driven by income returns.

Just under half of survey respondents who purchased a second home in 2019 did so with the intention of also renting it out on a short-term basis, instead of ‘own use’ exclusively as the primary reason for purchase.

More than 60 per cent of owner respondents to the survey who purchased their homes in the 1990s held their second homes exclusively for their own use. By 2019, this figure had fallen to under 40 per cent, with almost half (49 per cent) of all owners letting out their homes to holidaymakers on a short-term lettings basis as well.

Owners who choose to rent out their second home do so for a variety of reasons but a source of income and covering costs are the main drivers. Therefore, the health of the holiday rental market is increasingly important to these owners. The number of days a property is occupied, and how this has changed is a good measure of the market, and the signs are positive. Across each country in the survey, a third of owners had seen their booking rates increase over the past year, while a further 45 per cent said it stayed the same.

Further information

Contact Savills Research

Read the report: Second Homes