According to Knight Frank’s report, the number of London-based buyers who snapped up second homes in the countryside surged 309%
Affluent home buyers across the U.S. and U.K. are expanding their real estate portfolios and snapping up second homes in droves, according to Tuesday reports from Redfin and Knight Frank.
In the U.S., mortgage applications for second homes soared 84% annually in January, marking the eighth consecutive month that the metric has grown upward of 80% from the same time last year, Redfin said.
The number peaked in September, when second-home mortgage applications were up 118% year on year.
The appetite is being propelled by a desire to spend time away from packed city centres and the disposable incomes and well-performing stock portfolios of high earners, the online property portal said.
Many Americans have realized remote work is here to stay, allowing some fortunate people to work from a lakefront cabin or ski condo indefinitely, Taylor Marr, Redfin economist, said in the report.
Although demand is down slightly from the fall peak, the fact that nearly twice as many second-home buyers submitted applications in January as the year before means the popularity of vacation towns is not a fad, he added.
As a result of their increased popularity, home values in seasonal towns—defined by Redfin as an area where more than 30% of housing is used for seasonal or recreational purposes—are on the up. Sale prices increased 19% annually in December to a median of $408,000, according to Redfin.
Values in non-seasonal towns trailed behind, growing 13% to $365,000 over the same time.
In the UK, the number of London-based buyers who snapped up second homes in the countryside last year skyrocketed 309% compared to 2019, according to Knight Frank’s report.
The jump was underpinned by a number of factors, including Londoners bringing forward their plans to relocate while maintaining a home in the city, and by families looking for more space and a better ability to host extended family during lockdowns, Knight Frank said.