Many readers of this magazine will be well aware that the impact of additional taxes on buy to let property investing has made for a more complex investing choice in recent years. There are of course a number of options to consider to reduce tax bills, including incorporation and by using a company to own rental property but one route that is increasingly gaining favour with some investors is the holiday lettings sector.

It’s a property investment niche, which had some issues to deal with due to the lockdowns during the 2020 pandemic, but which then led onto an absolute boom in demand with rapid increases in rents. However, a better balance between demand and supply has seen the market stabilise in 2023, according to Lee Lewis of Whalesborough Holiday Cottages & Spa.

“Yes it was certainly a roller-coaster market some 18 months ago when the Covid lockdowns ended,” said Lee, “and then we had a huge boom in demand in 2022 but this year things have settled down as have achievable rents for holiday let accommodation.”

The pandemic’s ongoing impact has of course changed some of our accepted working patterns with hybrid office working becoming the norm for many and is also playing out in the choices people are making about where they live and also how, when and where they spend their leisure time. And whilst many have rediscovered an appetite for foreign travel, the costs have risen significantly and as such the UK staycation sector is seeing healthy growth.

Lee Lewis explained to me about the Whalesborough Holiday Cottages & Spa and the lettings trends they have observed in the last 18 months since they acquired the business, which is based near Bude in north Cornwall.

“We have some 450 acres of land and buildings here and also an adjacent 150 acre working farm from which the holiday accommodation and leisure facilities were originally borne out from some 25 years ago when it was a dairy farm.