Park Industry Report – March 2023

Spring Market to Bring an Easter Bounce

Holiday Home Market

Buyers have been cautious to enter the UK holiday home market in the first quarter of the year. This caution is reflected in the wider economy, with a hangover from Truss’s budget and the ongoing cost of living crisis. As we settle back into a pre-COVID, normal market, some park operators have taken measures to increase activity on parks with discounted site fees and reduced asking prices.

As better weather approaches and the wider economy settles, park operators across the UK report an upturn in new inquiries and activities on parks. Indeed, with buyers still reluctant to travel aboard, there is sufficient interest in the UK holiday home market to offer an optimistic outlook in Q2. Further evidence for this is illustrated by traffic to the Sell My Group website. With an increase of 24% year on year, we can conclude that there is pent-up demand with buyers still waiting to act.

Residential Park Home Market

After a soaring bricks-and-mortar property market in recent years, indicators suggest that 2023 will differ greatly. With the increase in energy bills and in interest rates, the residential park home market remains robust as an affordable alternative to traditional bricks-and-mortar living. This market optimism is reflected in park transactions as residential pitches continue to grow unabated.

One sector of the market continuing to do very well is the pre-loved residential market, in particular, the desire for properties under £150,000, where demand outstrips supply, especially in the South of England.

The South-West continues to prove the most popular for buyers of residential park homes., This is followed by the more affordable North-West. The South East is in third place, according to a recent poll * carried out by Sell My Group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/residentialparkhomesforsale150000max

Park Industry Opinions

Justin Allitt
Owner of Sell My Group

“While the holiday home market hasn’t performed strongly so far this year, we expect a turnaround at Easter, with an increasing number of buyers returning to parks. As for the residential park home market, our recent poll* showed that the biggest draw to moving to a park home is ‘Quality of Life’. This coupled with purchasers’ desires to release capital from their bricks and mortar home, will lead to a robust residential park home market for 2023.”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/residentialparkhomeschatbuyselluk/

Stuart Bell
Marketing Director of Quickmove Properties

“When residential park home buyers have a bricks and mortar house to sell, many park operators are recommending the peace of mind provided by property part exchange. For price guarantees, certainty and peace of mind, Quickmove’s PX service brings confidence to these transactions, allowing people to move into their dream park home in a matter of weeks with a secure cash offer, no chain and no delays.”

Richard Sigsworth
Park Development Director

“After the madness of late 2022, government shifts, interest rate hikes and an energy crisis plus the ongoing Ukrainian war, home sales were bound to falter in the first quarter of 2023. That is exactly what we have seen across the market in both residential and holiday home sales, the uncertainty of the “world” around us has caused some nervousness.

However, the world is not all doom and gloom, as the spring emerges for 2023, the government settles and we reflect, the market pushes on.

Holiday rentals continue to boom, with holiday letting parks again seeing good levels of bookings come in for the spring and summer months, despite Bank Of England interest rate rises, banks are once again offering mortgages at lower than the BOE base rate, encouraging first-time buyers and movers to make that leap.

As the housing market creeps back into life, we see this impact on the parks, as the days get longer and warmer, visitors to the parks become more frequent, looking for their retirement home or dream holiday home.

I firmly believe as we settle into the second quarter of 2023, the UK will stabilise, and once again we will see an influx of purchasers on the parks, realising their dream, whether that be funded from a house sale, equity release, of pension funds, once we return to a calm political and finical state, confidence will return to the markets.

We may not see the strong demand we did in 2021/22, but 23 will rebase the market. It may not be recording breaking but overall it will be a good year for the sector as a whole. “