Holiday homes in Cornwall – who uses them?

Data from the 2021 census gives the number of visits to each local authority and the usual residence of the visitor.  The data for Cornwall indicates that over half of users came from two regions – South West England (27.8%) and South East England (24.7%). 

 

Location by region

 

Location of Usual residence	Numbers	%
North East	40	0.3
North West	520	3.7
Yorkshire and The Humber	380	2.7
East Midlands	905	6.4
West Midlands	1650	11.6
East of England	955	6.7
London	2060	14.5
South East	3520	24.7
South West	3955	27.8
Wales	240	1.7
England and Wales	14230	100.0

 

Location by county

Using the data at local authority level it is possible to estimate the number of visitors to second homes in Cornwall by county of origin.  This throws up some interesting insights.

 

looking at the numbers of visits by the visitors usual residence shows that Devon contributed the highest number at 1,085 (7.8%) of the total.  Next was Surrey with 770 and then Hampshire with 685 and Somerset with 650.  Some 425 homes were visited by people with residence in Cornwall. 

 

Home area	Visitors	Share of visitors
	No's	%
Devon	1085	7.8
Surrey	770	5.5
Hampshire	685	4.9
Somerset	650	4.7
Berkshire	485	3.5
Worcestershire	440	3.2
Gloucestershire	425	3.1
Cornwall	425	3.1
Oxfordshire	420	3.0
Buckinghamshire	400	2.9
Sub-total	5785	41.7
Total	13885	100

 

 

Source

Office for National Statistics, (20 June 2023), Flows of users of holiday homes in England and Wales: Census 2021, Table 1c: Number of holiday home users by local authority of holiday home second address, regions of England and Wales.