Brexit slashes number of Britons letting overseas ho...

Data from the English Housing Survey suggests that the number of English owners of second homes in Europe has fallen again.

The Times, which has analysed the figures, says some 60,000 people in England own second homes in France, compared with 89,000 in 2008.

And now fewer than 30 per cent of second homes owned by people in England are located in Europe - in 2012, four years before the EU Referendum, the proportion was 40 per cent.

The survey defines second homes as properties mainly used by owners or let to others as a holiday home, or properties occupied by owners working away from home.

In recent years, following the UK leaving the EU, UK citizens who do not have a visa cannot spend more than 90 days in an EU country in any 180-day period –

Annette de Vries, an estate agent in the Dordogne, told the Times the additional bureaucracy of Brexit had deterred many people from buying in France.

“Less British people are looking for houses than before. The main reason is Brexit. It’s so much more difficult for British people to buy something here. They need health insurance and that’s very difficult for them.”

The newspaper also reported Brittany agent Sylvie Mayer saying: “Many Britons have left the area. Since last summer, a lot of them have sold their second homes because the paperwork got too complicated for them to spend time here.”

However the English Housing Survey also shows that buying a second home within the UK has increased in popularity.

Some 520,000 households now own second homes in the UK, up from 279,000 in 2008, with the south-east and London proving the most attractive locations for second homes, followed by the Midlands and the east of England.

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