{"id":507,"date":"2025-02-15T05:47:59","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T05:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ekobustai.lt\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/what-next-for-europes-second-homes-market\/"},"modified":"2025-02-15T05:47:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T05:47:59","slug":"what-next-for-europes-second-homes-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ekobustai.lt\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/what-next-for-europes-second-homes-market\/","title":{"rendered":"What next for Europe\u2019s second homes market?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Last month Pedro S\u00e1nchez, the Spanish prime minister, dropped a grenade that has had reverberations around western Europe. First he announced plans for a 100 per cent tax on homes purchased by non-resident non-EU buyers; then, a week later, he suggested such buyers might be banned altogether.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Faced with a population angry about housing shortages and Airbnb lets, S\u00e1nchez accuses second-home buyers of purchasing \u201cnot to live in, not for their families to live, but primarily to speculate, just to make money\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While many doubt that such a tax rise (or ban) will happen, his claim that non-EU buyers, led by Britons and Americans, are speculating on inner-city housing is wide of the mark, argues Mark St\u00fccklin of the market analyst Spanish Property Insight. \u201c(Buyers) are long-term second-home purchasers in coastal holiday areas and retirement homes, not short-term profiteers.\u201d Regardless, anti-second-home sentiment is full blooded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez\u2019s statement comes after a growing number of demonstrations in western European tourist hotspots. In Spain the banners have read \u201cYour Airbnb used to be my home\u201d; in Portuguese cities such as Lisbon, \u201cOur neighbourhoods are not your business\u201d and, in the UK Lake District, \u201cF*** your second homes\u201d stickers.<\/p>\n

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A protest against Portugal\u2019s housing crisis in Lisbon in September last year<\/span> \u00a9 Armando Franca\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Demonstrators against mass tourism in Barcelona, Spain, last June<\/span> \u00a9 Emilio Morenatti\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Across Europe, different interventions are being introduced to limit second-home ownership \u2014 or some of the negative impacts at least. Still, the messaging \u2014 often complicated by the benefits of tourism and \u201cgolden visas\u201d \u2014 is conflicted. Despite the protests and restrictions, buyers are still seeking second homes. And none of the interventions introduced so far have proved to be a silver bullet that reconciles the desires of homeowners with the needs of local communities. But both buyers and business models are <\/em>adapting and changing.<\/p>\n

In the face of local hostility and increasing costs, what are the options for those wanting to own a property in Europe?<\/p>\n\n

Second-home ownership<\/strong> has been gathering pace since the prosperous postwar years and the age of low-cost air travel. But this century it has reached unprecedented levels. In 2014, a European Central Bank survey on property ownership revealed that in the EU, 15 per cent of households are secondary property owners. This rises to more than 20 per cent in Finland, Luxemburg, Cyprus, Spain and Estonia. <\/p>\n

In the UK, the number of second-home owners doubled between 2001 and 2019, according to the Resolution Foundation, a think-tank. Even Brexit \u2014 and the 90-day rule, whereby British property owners can spend no more than 90 days out of 180 in the EU \u2014 did not kill off the British appetite for a home in Europe, though it did take the edge off. In 2021-22, 809,000 households in England owned a second home inside or outside the UK, an increase of 13 per cent over the previous decade, according to the English Housing Survey. Forty per cent of these were outside the UK,\u00a0a drop of 44,000 homes, over the decade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rise in golden visa schemes \u2014 largely introduced in 2013-14 \u2014 offering non-EU investors the chance to acquire residency permits throughout Europe supercharged the trend, especially in Portugal, Spain and Greece. During 2023 Greece handed out the highest number of golden visas in Europe: 7,752, according to the Greek government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Golden visa programmes have accelerated the trend of second-home buying, notably in Greece (pictured, Athens)<\/span> \u00a9 Marc Bruxelle\/Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the post-pandemic rise of digital mobility has given new life to the second home \u2014 in a morphed form. We now have what\u2019s nattily called the \u201cco-primary\u201d, according to Paddy Dring, global head of prime sales at Knight Frank \u2014 one that is similar in size and quality to the primary home, and where time is split almost equally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As well as driving up local house prices, seasonal occupancy has led to \u201ccold beds\u201d and \u201cghost towns\u201d on the one hand. On the other, boundaries have become blurred between second homes for personal use and rental investments. Charles Cramailh of Leggett Property Management says, \u201cIn 2019 there were 500,000 listings on Airbnb in France. At the end of 2024 there were over 1mn,\u201d fuelling the flames of overtourism and affecting the rental market for locals.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many countries \u2014 including Portugal, Greece and, shortly, Spain \u2014 have since stopped or limited their golden visa schemes. More still are raising taxes, a measure long adopted in countries including Italy and France, and due to come into effect in England, Scotland and Wales from April. Welsh councils have already been increasing council tax on second homes but this has limited impact at the high end of the market, argues Carol Peett of West Wales Property Finders, a buying agent: \u201cA few thousand extra in council tax is not deterring those buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cities around Europe \u2014 including Paris, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Vienna, Florence and London \u2014 have also been restricting holiday lets. Others have been restricting new-builds for second homes. In 2012, the Swiss voted in a national referendum to ban the building of new second homes in ski resorts where there were more than 20 per cent holiday homes, to preserve the traditional ambience of the villages. \u201cPre-referendum propaganda blamed foreigners for leaving their second homes empty,\u201d says Simon Malster of Alpine agent Investors in Property.<\/p>\n

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Last month\u2019s announcement of taxing non-EU property purchases in Spain reflects public anger about housing shortages and Airbnb lets<\/span> \u00a9 David Zorrakino\/Europa Press via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The price of second homes increased and developers responded to the ban by building regulation-compliant schemes where owners legally have to rent out their apartments. (At the same time, this satisfied a growing appetite from some buyers to cover the increasing costs of owning a secondary home.) These include managed apartments with shared amenities, often run by hotel brands, which are now found across Alpine ski resorts and southern European cities and coasts. Among recent openings have been the W Residences Algarve, Six Senses Residences in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana and the Mandarin Oriental in Madrid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keenly aware of the underused family ski chalet in Crans-Montana, software company chief executive Rudolf Philipse deliberately chose a holiday home in a resort that would rent it out for him when he wasn\u2019t using it. In 2021 he bought an apartment at the Viceroy Residences in the Algarvian resort of Ombria, which he uses for 10 weeks per year and receives a 5 per cent yield on income. \u201cIt is a more efficient way to own a home. So many other places become ghost towns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Branded residences in Europe command a 30 per cent premium, according to Savills, and putting your property in the rental pool can be obligatory or optional, and annual management fees can be hefty \u2014 some are \u00a310,000 a year. Buyers like Philipse say that they like the reassurance of an established brand being associated with a scheme\u2019s management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Viceroy Residences in the Algarvian resort of Ombria<\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

But the model does not suit everyone. \u201cMost buyers at the top end \u2014 spending over \u20ac1.5mn \u2014 do not want to rent out their apartments,\u201d says Giles Gale of Alpine Property Finders. Others have found issues with the way they are run. \u201cA managed rental scheme is only as good as the management,\u201d cautions one former owner, in Salzburgland, Austria. \u201cIt was not the hands-off, hassle-free second home we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside the growth of schemes that limit owners\u2019 periods of use to keep \u201cwarm beds\u201d, various forms of co-ownership have grown in popularity \u2014 some of their potential appeal is in their ability to satisfy demand while reducing the increase in number of second homes by virtue of a large number of buyers sharing a smaller number of properties. But that road has been bumpy.<\/p>\n

Fractional ownership \u2014 where multiple owners buy a property together \u2014 took off in the US in the 1990s. Real estate companies and developers formalising such co-ownership by offering properties they would manage on behalf of a collection of owners felt the natural next step; it was well-suited to the US with their short holidays, but slower to gain traction in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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We feel a connection with each place, which we wouldn\u2019t do if we just rented villas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And who could forget the frenzy over timeshares, the buying of time rather than a stake in the equity of a property, that blew up into colourful mis-selling scandals and owners stuck with \u201ctime\u201d they couldn\u2019t spend or sell on? Spain particularly was in the line of fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New co-ownership schemes in the early 2000s strove to differentiate themselves \u2014 and these seem to be having a resurgence. Danish company 21-5 was set up in 2010 by Anders K\u00f8j, born from the experiment of having five homes owned between 21 families. Prospective owners\u2019 preferred locations are agreed before the company buys properties on behalf of the \u201cowner association\u201d and each gets 12 weeks\u2019 usage a year. The average value of one of the five homes in a collection is \u20ac1.8mn, but a share of a cluster of such properties \u2014 each typically three to four bedrooms \u2014 is \u20ac445,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A home in Saint-Rapha\u00ebl, France, one of the properties belonging to co-ownership company 21-5 <\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The scheme has grown to some 1,300 owners and 300 homes, mainly across southern Europe and New York. \u201cAt first we were fighting the ghosts of timeshare (scandals) so growth was slow. But now we are seeing interest from German, Dutch and UK buyers (for the model) as well as from Danes,\u201d says K\u00f8j. Some 100 owners have already sold their shares \u2014 at an average 50 per cent profit, according to K\u00f8j. While some have done this and then returned to the scheme, many others intend to pass their share to their children as part of their inheritance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

These schemes require co-owners to be flexible, so typically attract mid-lifers whose time has been freed up by children leaving home, says M\u00e9lie Dunod, Parisian founder of August, a scheme set up in 2019. It sells \u201ccollections\u201d of homes \u2014 including villas in Mallorca, hilltop farmhouses in Tuscany, ski chalets in Chamonix, cottages in the Cotswolds and pieds \u00e0 terre in Paris \u2014 with prices from \u20ac405,000 for a share that enables owners to spend eight to 17 weeks in the properties in their collection: annual fees are from \u20ac11,500. The homes are purchased when August has the buyers lined up, and then renovated. Five homes are usually shared between around 20 owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A house in the south of France in August\u2019s collection of shared ownership homes <\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This quintet of locations drew Linda and Dan Hearne, Americans based in London, because they were put off by the restrictions and regulations of buying a home by themselves in Mallorca. They spend 12-16 weeks a year between their five homes, often with their grown-up children. \u201cWe feel a connection with each place, which we wouldn\u2019t do if we just rented villas,\u201d says Linda, a retired financier. Yet she admits they need a \u201cback-up plan\u201d if they miss out on bagging the week they want.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike other schemes, August doesn\u2019t offer owners points or swap rights to other properties in the portfolio. \u201cThe sense of ownership disappears when that happens,\u201d says Dunod. The company has grown to 400 owners (mostly British and American) and 80 properties. She believes it\u2019s a way of ensuring existing housing stock is better used.<\/p>\n

Its model differs from Pacaso, a Californian start-up that achieved unicorn status (valuation of $1bn) after its launch in 2020. Started by former Zillow executives Austin Allison and Spencer Rascoff, this fractional ownership started with selling eight shares of a two-bedroom home in Napa Valley and has expanded to 1,500 owners, with properties in California, Aspen, Vail, Miami and Charleston. Ninety per cent of the owners are American and the average price is $700,000 for a one-eighth share.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Pacaso\u2019s property on the Rue du Bac\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009one of its shared ownership pieds \u00e0 terres in Paris <\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Yet expansion into Europe hasn\u2019t been straightforward. Pacaso launched a five-bedroom villa in Marbella in 2022, then withdrew it from the co-ownership model. It is now trying again with three properties in Paris and four in London.<\/p>\n

The co-ownership model is not free from local opposition either. The residents around one of Pacaso\u2019s homes in St Helena, Napa Valley, feared their neighbourhood would be ruined by parties and loss of community. A resulting legal dispute between Pacaso and the city was settled with an agreement to limit the company\u2019s number of properties in that area.<\/p>\n

Problems caused by second homes need local solutions, says Professor Nick Gallent from the Bartlett School of Planning \u2014 not necessarily broad brushstroke policies like the ones S\u00e1nchez is suggesting. \u201cSecond homes tend to be a problem where housing supply is constrained. Their impact is determined by host market context\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009In some places they are a source of welcome investment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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House & Home Unlocked<\/h3>\n
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Clearly would-be second home owners need to take into consideration the housing supply landscape of the area they are considering, as well as new regulations. Local buying agents are increasingly helping navigate changing rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing an incredible demand for homes which is pushing up prices. But buyers increasingly need to proceed with caution,\u201d says Barbara Wood of buying agents The Property Finders in Spain, citing factors such as locations considering limits on rental properties.\u00a0<\/p>\n