Overseas property warning

OPERATORS claim the industry could be underestimating the impact of the overseas property boom on the sale of family holidays.

Fears have been raised despite a slight pick-up in summer 2004 sales in the past week.

Operators say traditional sales could suffer because of cheap properties overseas and the rise of no-frills carriers.

A survey of English housing, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, said 153,000 households had second homes outside the UK in 2002/03 compared with 91,000 in 1994/95.

Consultancy VEF, which helped 700 people buy property in France last year, estimates the market for buyers of overseas properties has doubled in two years. The Spanish Tourist Office admitted the number of homes owned by British people in Spain had risen “considerably” in the past three years.

France and Spain, which top the list for UK package holidays, are among the most popular destinations for property.

Cosmos director of sales Brian Young said: “The family market has started to decline because second home ownership in France and Spain has shot through the ceiling.

“Not only do you lose these families but their friends use the properties too. As an industry, we’re underestimating the impact this will have in future.”

Sunvil Holidays managing director Noel Josephides added: “The building boom in the Mediterranean has led to a massive rise in the availability of holiday accommodation. UK citizens are colonising the Med by buying homes and have left the traditional marketplace.”

Jewel in the Crown managing director Platon Loizou is seeking new destinations where holidaymakers would not buy properties. “People with properties abroad are renting them out to friends and this is having a huge effect on our industry.”