Anger over 'second home' adverts

Estate agents say more land is needed for housing in the South West

Estate agents have rejected calls to stop marketing South West properties to holiday home buyers.

The practice has got out of hand with some family properties being marketed as holiday homes, Cornwall MP Andrew George has said.

Estate Agents say it is a free market and more land is needed for housing.

But the South West Regional Assembly, which controls planning, said a "dash for housing" would ruin the region's open spaces.

Mr George said estate agents eager to cash in on demand for second homes were marketing local homes as "ideal holiday homes".

It's a well-intentioned idea, but it falls at the first hurdle Chris Woods, National Association of Estate Agents

He said he had evidence of the practice in places such as Hayle, which is favoured by local families and with relatively few second or holiday homes.

"The market and price across a lot of west Cornwall and Scilly is at least heavily influenced if not dictated by second home purchasers," Mr George said.

"It is quite wrong for the developers of new properties, which would be ideal for local families, to market them on the expectation that they should be sold to second home buyers instead."

Chris Woods, of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: "It's a well-intentioned idea, but it falls at the first hurdle because estate agents have a legal obligation get the the best price for customers.

'Realistic' target

"Part of that is marking it to the widest possble audience.

"We are not building enough, but the planning laws means we are not releasing enough land and that is pushing prices up."

The National Housing and Planning Advisory Unit has told the government that about 30,000 new homes a year are needed in the South West.

But Mike Bawden, chair of the regional assembly's planning group said a "dash for more housing" could undermine "the need to protect the special environment of the South West".

He said: "The fact that we need to build more housing and more affordable homes is clear, but we need to be realistic about what can be achieved.

"We need planning to help deliver good quality housing in the right places at the right times."