If you’re one of the select band of homeowners in the market for a second home, the time could be right to buy a holiday home on the coast.  Houses in good resorts with sea views don’t come up for sale very often, but with the credit crunch biting, many second homeowners are finding the place on the coast a luxury too far.  Don’t expect too much of a bargain, though; with the strong Euro and higher airfares holidaying closer to home is popular and properties like these are very much holding their own.

 

Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Popular with second-homers and retirees, Scarborough offers both a new and an old town.  Britain’s oldest seaside resort also offers a castle, two beaches and all year round events which include the famous Scarborough fair.  Three-bedroom houses start at £150,000 but expect to pay more if you want sea views.

 

Wells-next-the-sea, Suffolk

These days, Wells-next-the-sea is as famous for its gourmet dining as much for its more traditional pursuits of crab picking and riding the narrow-gauge railway to the beach.  Be prepared to pay at least £170,000 for a period property in the town.

 

Southwold, Suffolk

If proof were needed of how fashionable the East Anglian resort of Southwold is with city types – this is the location that Gordon Brown decided to spend his summer holiday this year.  Indeed it is a very fashionable location with second-homers from London, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire but such as cosmopolitan place comes with a hefty price tag of as much as £1.5m for a house with a sea view.

 

Broadstairs, Kent

Broadstairs is the more affordable location on the Kent coastline, in comparison to its more westerly neighbour, Whitstable. 

 

West Wittering, West Sussex
Lyme Regis, Dorset
Salcombe, Devon
Saint Ives, Cornwall
Tenby, Pembrokeshire
Morecambe, Lancashire

 

The Top Ten Coastal Hot Spots

	Average House Price (£)	Price Growth Over 1 Year (%)	Price Growth Over 3 Years (%)
Scarborough, North Yorkshire	158,970	5.6	10.9
Wells-next-the-sea, Suffolk	371,500	2.6	39.5
Southwold, Suffolk	364,809	12.4	22.1
Broadstairs, Kent	203,393	7.3	18.1
West Wittering, West Sussex	260,687	4.5	24.3
Lyme Regis, Dorset	313,495	0.6	19.4
Salcombe, Devon	363,085	-5.5	19.3
St Ives, Cornwall	283,179	3.2	13.7
Tenby, Pembrokeshire	233,450	8.1	31.1
Morecambe, Lancashire	129,462	6.3	27.5

Source:Knight Frank Residential Research