The peak age of holiday homeowners has increased from 64 to 73 over the last 10 years, according to analysis of Census data by Hargreaves Lansdown.

Census data shows that 447,000 people had a holiday home in 2021 where they spent more than 30 days – this is a rise of 4.7% since 2011, but represents only 0.76% of people in England and 0.56% of people in Wales.

Of the holiday homeowners, the majority were over the age of 50 (77%), with the peak age of holiday home use rising from 64 in 2011 to 73 in 2021.

While most holiday homes are outside the UK still, the gap is closing as more people are now spending time in a UK holiday home. This has gone up from 180,000 in 2011 to 217,000 in 2021. At the same time, the number of people spending time in a holiday home elsewhere is on the decline, falling from 246,000 to 230,000 over the 10 years.

Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance Sarah Coles comments: “For younger people, the dream of owning a holiday home is dying. It’s hard enough to imagine being able to afford a property of their own, let alone the outlandish possibility of buying a second property. More people have a holiday home than ten years ago, but those who own them are getting older.

“This looks distinctly like there’s a specific cohort of people who were able to buy a holiday home when it was far more affordable and are now ageing.”

The increasing age of the holiday homeowner could be one of the reasons why more holiday homes are now based in the UK rather than abroad, in addition to the Brexit factor, Coles adds.